THE GOLDEN PLOVER. 413 



FAMILY CHARADRID^E. THE PLOVERS. 



Bill rather cylindrical, as long as the head, or shorter; the culmen much indented 

 opposite the nostrils, the vaulted apex more or less swollen and rising, quite distinct 

 from the membranous portion ; legs elevated ; hind toe rarely present, and then rudi- 

 mentary ; the outer and middle toes more or less united by membrane. 



CHARADRIUS, LINNAEUS. 



Charadrius, LINN.EUS, Syst. Nat. (1735). 



Plumage yellowish-gray, spotted ; tail transversely banded ; no collar on necki 

 tarsi and lower thighs uniformly reticulated. 



CHARADRIUS VIRGINICUS. Borckausen. 

 The Golden Plover; Bull-head. 



Charadrius pluvialis, Wilson. Am. Orn., VII. (1813) 71. Nutt. Man., II. (1834) 16. 

 Aud. Orn. Biog., III. (1835) 623. 



Charadrius Virginicus, " Borckausen and Bechstein." Licht. Verz. Doubl. (1823). 

 Charadrius marmoratus, Audubon. Orn. Biog., V. (1839) 575. 



DESCRIPTION. 



Bill rather short ; legs moderate ; wings long ; no hind toe ; tarsus covered before 

 and behind with small circular or hexagonal scales; upper parts brownish-black, 

 with numerous small circular and irregular spots of golden-yellow, most numerous 

 on the back and rump, and on the upper tail coverts, assuming the form of trans- 

 verse bands generally; also with some spots of ashy-white; entire under parts 

 black, with a brownish or bronzed lustre, under tail coverts mixed or barred with 

 white ; forehead, border of the black of the neck, under tail coverts, and tibia;, white ; 

 axillary feathers cinereous ; quills, dark-brown ; middle portion of the shafts white, 

 frequently extending slightly to the webs, and forming longitudinal stripes on the 

 shorter quills ; tail dark-brown, with numerous irregular bands of ashy-white, and 

 frequently tinged with golden-yellow; bill black; legs dark bluish-brown. 



Younger. Under parts dull-ashy, spotted with brownish on the neck and 

 breast, frequently more or less mixed with black ; many spots of the upper parts 

 dull ashy-white; other spots, especially on the rump, golden-yellow. 



Total length, about nine and a half inches ; wing, seven inches ; tail, two and a 

 half inches. 



Hob. All of North America, South America, Northern Asia, Europe. 



THIS beautiful and well-known bird passes through New 

 England in the spring and fall migrations, but does not 

 pause here, in either, longer than two or three days. It 

 arrives from the South about the 25th of April or 1st of 

 May, in small flocks of fifteen or twenty, and frequents the 



