WILSON'S PLOVER. 6 1 



WILSON'S PLOVER. 



vEgialitis wilsonia. 



Char. Above, olive ash or pale ashy brown, tinged on the nape with 

 rufous; under parts and forehead white ; patches on front of crown, and 

 band on breast black ; tail dark olive ; bill black, long, and stout. Length 

 about 7^4 inches. Easily distinguished from the other small " ring- 

 necked " Plover by its large black bill. 



JVfst. Amid the shingle on a sea-side beach ; an extremely slight 

 hollow in the sand, without lining. 



Eggs. Usually 3; pale olive-buff thickly marked with blackish brown ; 

 size variable, average 1.30 X i-oo. 



This species was described by Ord in 1813, and dedicated to his 

 friend Wilson. It is a Southern bird, and restricted probably to 

 the sea-coast, though some few observers have reported finding it 

 in the interior. It was " not very common " on Long Island in 

 Giraud's day, and later authorities have reported it extremely rare 

 there ; but it occurs in more or less abundance from Virginia to 

 Florida and on both coasts of Central America. A few examples 

 have been credited to New England, and Colonel Goss shot one 

 on Brier Island, at the mouth of the Bay of Fundy. 



Dr. Coues describes the habits of this Plover as much the same 

 as those of its congener, the Semi-palmated. He says the Wil- 

 son's Plovers move north in flocks of six to twenty ; but these sep- 

 arate on the nesting ground, and two nests are never placed in 

 close neighborhood. They are gentle and unsuspicious birds ; but 

 when a nest is approached, the parents become intensely excited, 

 flitting to and fro hurriedly and wildly, and continually uttering 

 cries of alarm and dismay in most pathetic tones. Their note is 

 described as "half a whistle and half a chirp, and very different 

 from the clear mellow piping of the other species." 



They begin to lay about the middle of May or first of June, 

 according to location. The young run as soon as they are clear of 

 the shell, and easily escape detection by squatting on the sand, 

 which is very similar in color. 



The flight of Wilson's Plover is swift and graceful ; and as the 

 birds skim above the water — barely clearing the crests of the 

 waves — they continually utter their cry in clear, soft tones. Giraud 

 described them as of a sociable tendency; but Audubon thought 

 they rarely mingled with other species, and called them solitary. 

 Their food is small shell-fish, worms, and insects, with which they 

 mingle fine particles of sand. 



