634 THE AMERICAN GOLDEN PLOVER. 
No. 253. 
AMERICAN GOLDEN PLOVER. 
ALO. U. No. 272. Charadrius dominicus Mill. 
Synonyms.—Fiteip Plover. BuLi-Hean. 
Description.—Adult in summer: Above dusky, blackening on tips of feathers 
on back and crown, lightening to fuscous on wing-coverts, tertials, sides of neck, 
etc.; spotted sharply on back and crown, less distinctly on neck and upper tail- 
coverts, with bright ochre-yellow ; primaries blackish, the basal and a concealed 
distal portion of each quill white; tail dusky, barred irregularly with lighter gray- 
ish brown; entire underparts, except lining of wing, including sides of head, 
glossy, brownish black; bordered on head, neck, and breast with pure white; lining 
of wings smoky gray or ashy; bill and legs black. Adult in winter: Usually less 
decidedly black on back; the spotting (streaking on hind neck) finer on upper 
parts ; the ochre-yellow brightest on upper tail-coverts ; elsewhere more or less dis- 
placed by paler yellow and whitish; below without black; throat and crissum dull 
white; elsewhere streaked and spotted with light brownish gray, a lighter shade 
of the same vaguely diffused over the plumage, or else underparts definitely 
brownish gray, finely spotted with white. /mnature: Like adult in winter, but 
lighter below; only the breast tinged, and that uniformly, with light fuscous ; pat- 
tern of neck all around blended. Length 9.50-11.00 (241.3-270.4); av. of nine 
specimens: wing 6.83 (173.5); tail 2.56 (65); bill 89 (22.6); tarsus 1.63 (41.4). 
Recognition Marks.—Killdeer size. ‘Golden’ speckling of upperparts dis- 
tinctive. Somewhat smaller than preceding species; bill decidedly smaller; not so 
white below in fall plumage. 
Nesting.—Does not breed in Washington. Nest: on the ground with a 
scanty lining of leaves and grass. Eggs: 3 or 4, buffy white to buffy brown, 
boldly spotted and blotched with brownish black. Av. size, 1.98 x 1.37 (50.3 x 
34.8). 
General Range.—Arctic America except the coast of Bering Sea, migrating 
southward thruout North and South America to Patagonia. 
Range in Washington.—Not common migrant, chiefly confined to the West 
Coast. 
Authorities—|Cooper and Suckley, 229. No Washington record.] 
Brewster, B. N. O. C. VII. Oct. 1882, p. 227. E(H). 
Specimens.—lroy. C. 
ALTHO the Golden Plover is commonly reported from various places in 
the eastern interior during migrations, it is not at all common upon the Pacific 
slope, nor indeed anywhere west of the Rocky Mountains. The great bulk of 
the migrants, especially in the fall, appear to pass along the Atlantic Coast, or 
even at a considerable distance out to sea. During the latter days of August 
enormous numbers push boldly out to sea from the southern shore of Nova 
Scotia, and are not seen again until they touch the West Indies, unless they be 
driven back against the Atlantic Coast by strong east winds, in which case the 
sportsmen of Massachusetts and Long Island reap a rich harvest. 
