THE BEETLEHEAD PLOVER 77 



shades prevailing in the centres and the white 

 mostly on the tips and edges of the feathers. 

 The upper tail coverts white with but little 

 of the dark shading ; forehead, crown and down 

 the side of the neck snow white, as are also the 

 linings of the wings, under tail coverts, tibiae 

 and vent. The tail is barred with black and 

 white. Sides of the head as far back as the 

 eye, side of the neck, breast and remaining un- 

 der parts, primaries, axillary plumes, bill, legs 

 and feet are black. Male and female are 

 marked alike though the lady may have brown- 

 ish tones in the blacks. Comparatively few 

 gunners are acquainted with him in this plum- 

 age, knowing him better in his fall dress of 

 mottled black and white, when the breast mark- 

 ing is somewhat dingier and does not, as a 

 rule, show the solid area of black, nor are any 

 of the contrasts of color so marked, yet he may 

 be recognized at once by his large size and the 

 hind toe, the mark of the species. 



The bird at the right in the plate is in the 

 plumage of the young of the year the winter 

 dress of the adult bird also, though the mature 

 bird generally retains some trace of the black 

 breast in the dusky markings below. In this 



