CHARADRIIDH, PLOVER.—GEN. 192, 193. 245 
stumpy; edges of eyelids colored ; no evident web between inner and middle 
toes, and only a slight one between middle and outer; size of the last, or 
rather less. Eastern and Middle North America; abundant on the Atlantic 
coast, breeding northward. Wius., v, 30, pl. 37, f. 3; Nurr., ii, 18; 
Paes 220, pl. o2l 5 Cass. in Bp., 695. . . . . . . MEDLODUS: 
Snowy Plover. With a general resemblance to the last, this species is 
rather darker (not so dark as in semipalmatus), and the hind head is tinged 
with fulvous, as in wilsonius; it may be at once recognized by its entirely 
black bill, slender, about 3 long; legs dark; several lateral tail feathers 
entirely white; 64-7 long; wing 4-44; tail 2 or less. California coast, 
where I found it abundant in winter: Ibis, 1866, 274. It belongs to a 
different sub-group from the foregoing, and appears to be identical with the 
common Kentish plover of Europe, A. cantiana; but I have had no 
opportunity of a direct comparison. Cass. in Bp., 696. . . CANTIANA. 
** Tarsus about twice as long as the middle toe. (Podasocys.) 
Mountain Plover. Bill black, slender, an inch long; middle toe and claw 
the same; tarsus 13; tibice bare over 4; about 9; wing 6; tail 3, nearly 
square. Above brown, all the feathers skirted with rusty, which also shades 
the breast; other under parts, forehead, and short line over eye, white; a 
coronal (and pectoral?) black band in mature plumage; quills and tail 
blackish, former with white shafts, latter tipped with whitish. Middle 
Kansas to the Pacific, common on dry plains and even in deserts; inde- 
pendent of water; feeds on insects, especially grasshoppers. I found it in 
New Mexico in June, and abundantly in California in November. The 
eggs, hitherto undescribed, measure 1.40 to 1.50 in the greater axis, by 1.10 
in the transverse; color an olive drab with a slight brown shade, thickly 
marked, especially toward the larger end, with small sharp speckling and 
fine dotting of blackish, dark brown and neutral tint. (Described from two 
specimens in the Smithsonian collection, taken by Haypen, July, 1859, in 
Nebraska). Charadrius montanus AuD., v, 213, pl. 318 ; Zgialitis montanus 
Cass. in Bp., 693; Podasocys montanus Cougs, Proc. Phila. Acad. 1866, 
MOEee ior, pldo. 5 . > - . . =. .. - ASIATICUS var. MONTANUS. 
193. Genus APHRIZA Audubon. 
Surf Bird. Dark ashy-brown, streaked with white on the head and neck, 
and in summer with chestnut and black on the back; upper tail coverts 
white; under parts white, often ashy-shaded, and variously marked with 
blackish ; tail black and white; bases and shafts of primaries, most of the 
secondaries, and tips of greater coverts, white; bill black, flesh-colored at 
base below; legs dusky-greenish; 9-10; wing about 7; tail 3 or less; 
bill 1; tarsus 14, reticulate ; hind toe present; front toes cleft to the base. 
Varies greatly in plumage with age and season. A remarkable bird, appar- 
ently a plover, connecting this family with the next, and also related to 
the sandpipers. Extensively dispersed on the coasts and islands of the Pacific. 
Cass. in Bp., 698; Aphriza townsendii Aup., v, 228, pl. 822. . VIRGATA. 
