Birds of Indiana. 



735 



XX. Family CHARA.DR[ID^.. Plovers. 



a'. Plumage al)ove speckled, helow hiack in l)ree<liiig season. Charadrius. o9 

 a^. I'luinage of upper parts not speckled; neck, with dark rings; toes, always 

 three. J'/iiALiTis. 00 



59. Gknis niAKAKRirS Linn.icus. 



a'. Hind toe well developed, without claw. 



Subgenus StjiATAhoLA Cuvier. C. squatarola (Linn.). 113 

 a'-. Hind toe absent. Subgenus Charadrh's. C. doiuinicus Miill. 114 



Subfrenus SiH'ATaroi.a ("iivier. 



113. (-?0). Charadrius squatarola (Linn.). 



Black-bellied Plover. 

 Synonyms, Ox-EVE, Bill-head. 



Black-bellied Plover. Natural size. 



Adult in Breeding Season. — Earely seen in the United States; face 

 and entire under parts, black; upper parts, variegated with black and 

 white, or ashy; tail, barred with black and white; quills, dusky, with 

 large white patches. Adults at other times and Immature. — Below, 

 white, more or less shaded with gray; the throat and breast, more or 

 less speckled with dusky; above, blackish, speckled with white or yel- 

 lowish; the rump, white, with dark bars; legs, dull bluish. Old birds 

 changing show every grade, from a few isolated feathers on the under 

 parts to numerous large black patches. They may be recognized in 

 any plumage by the small hind toe. 



Length, 10.50-12.00; wing, 7.50; cnlmeu, 1.10; tarsus, 1.95. 



Range. — Nearly cosmopolitan. Breeds in the Arctic regions, and 

 winters from Louisiana and Florida southward. It has been recently 

 shown that the Black-bellied Plover and a number of other birds, in- 

 cluding the Knot, Iludsonian Curlew, and Turnstone, which have 

 been credited with spending the breeding season in the Arctic regions, 



