915 



CHARADRIAD^E. 



CHARADRIAD^E. 



946 



pale and few, and placed on the lateral feathers ; bill black ; iria 

 blackish ; feet ashy-black. Length rather more than 10 inches. 



Adult Male and Female, in their Spring or Nuptial Plumage. 

 Space between the eye and the bill, throat, sides and front of the 

 neck, middle of the breast, belly, and sides, deep black ; front, a large 

 band above the eyes, lateral parts of the neck, side of the breast, 

 thighs, and abdomen, pure white ; nape variegated with brown, black, 

 and white ; occiput, back, scapulars, and coverts of the wings, deep 

 black ; all the feathers of these parts terminated by a large space of 

 pure white ; large white spots on the greatest of the wing coverts and 

 on the scapulars ; oblique black bauds on the lower tail-coverts ; 

 feathers of the middle of the tail striped with white and black. 



The young before the moult resemble more or less the adult birds 

 and the young in winter ; the front, space above the eye, sides of the 

 neck, and sides are variegated with larger but paler spots ; upper 

 parts of a bright-gray tint varied with whitish, also a little whitish 

 at the extremity of the quills; transverse bands of the tail gray. 

 (Temm.) 



In the first of these states of plumage the bird is the Tringa 

 Srtuatarola, GmeL ; Le Vanneau Vari<$, Buff. ; and Gray Sandpiper, 

 Lath. ('Syn.') 



In the second it is the Vantttut mtlanogatter, Bech. ; Tringa 

 Helvetica, GmeL : Clutradriua apricarius, Wils. ; Le Vanneau Suisse, 

 Buff. ; Swiss Sandpiper, Lath. ; and Schwarzbauchiger Kiebiz, Meyer. 



The young before the moult are Tringa Squatarola, var., Gmel. ; 

 Le Vanneau Pluvier, and Vanneau GITS, Buff. ; Gray Sandpiper, 

 Lath. ; and Schwarzbauchiger Kiebiz im Herbstkleide, Meyer. 



M. Temminck, who gives these synonyms, remarks in his ' Manuel,*" 

 that at the two epochs of the moult, individuals are found which 

 have the deep black of the lower parts sprinkled with some white 

 feathers, or when the white predominates it is variegated with some 

 black feathers. The birds in winter plumage and the young may, he 

 observes, be easily distipguished from those of the Golden Plover, 

 first by the presence of the posterior toe, and secondly by the long 

 black feathers which are found inside of the wings, near the body ; 

 the rest of the plumage differs so little at these epochs, that one 

 might be easily mistaken. 



This species is the Ckaradriut hypomdat of Wagler, and the Gray 

 Squatarole of Shaw. It appears to be the Pluvier Gris of Belon, and 

 in the ' Portraits d'Oyseaux,' &c., is the following loyal quatrain under 

 the figure of the bird : 



11 De nuict seulet, do jour en compajmie, 

 Va le Pluvier suyvant son appelleur. 

 Par la voit-on, quo c'est bicn le meilleur, 

 Qu'une gent oit par un roy gouverne*." 



M. Temminck, who, in the fourth part of his ' Manuel ' (1840), 

 protests against the generic separation of this form, not without 

 a passing but sweeping censure on " toutes les autres coupes nou- 

 velles," adds to the synonyms Squatarola varia et Helvetica, Brehm. ; 

 Kiebiz Regenpfeifer, Xauui ; Pivieressa, Savi ; and Sprackling Vipa, 

 Nils. 



In Britain, where this bird is not numerous, and principally known 

 as a migratory species, it is found on the coast " in oozy bays, or at 

 the mouths of rivers," where it feeds upon worms, marine crustnceans, 

 ftc. The bird runs well, and its whistle is like that of the Golden 

 Plover, but not so shrill. If killed in good season it is delicious for 

 the table. The nest is of the most rude construction. A shallow 

 depression in the earth is lined with a few pieces of dried bents or 

 straw, and there four eggs generally, which are oil-green blotched 

 with Mack, are deposited. According to Wilson and Nuttall, this 

 Plover has often in the temperate parts of the United States two 

 broods in a season, though it has only one in Massachusetts, where 

 their nests are of rare occurrence. During the summer both young 

 and old feed much upon various kinds of berries, particularly those 

 of the early bramble, called dew-berries, and their flesh is then highly 

 esteemed. About the last week in August they repair with their 

 young to the borders of the sea-coast, where they assemble in great 

 numbers, feeding on small shell-fish, shrimps, and other small marine 

 animals. Grasshoppers and other insects that abound in the fields 

 are also eaten by them. " They are," says Nuttall, " extremely shy 

 and watchful, uttering a loud rather plaintive whistling note as they 

 fly high and circling in the air, and are so often noisy, particularly in 

 the breeding season, as to have acquired among many of the gunners 

 along the coast the name of the Black-Bellied Killdeer. They usually 

 linger round the sea-coast in the Middle States till the commencement 

 of November, when the frosts beginning sensibly to diminish their 

 prospect of subsistence, they instinctively move off towards the south, 

 proceeding probably at this time under the shade of twilight, as moving 

 flocks are nowhere, an far as I can learn, seen by day. About the 

 middle of September, in the marshes of Chelsea (Mass.) contiguous 

 to the beach, they sometimes assemble at daybreak in flocks of more 

 than a thousand individuals together, and soon after disperse them- 

 selves in companies on the shores, to feed upon the small shell-fish 

 and marine insects (Crustacea). This crowding instinct takes place 

 a short time previous to their general migration southward." (' Manual 

 of the Ornithology of the United States and Canada.') 



The Gray Plover is found in all the temperate countries of Europe. 

 HAT. HIST. DIV. VOL. i. 



More abundant in France than in Germany ; rare in Switzerland ; 

 common enough in the islands and on the coasts of Holland. Abun- 

 dant in summer in the regions of the Arctic Circle and of Oriental 

 climates, where it breeds. M. Cantraine killed a young one in the 

 Strait of Boniface. (Temm.) Dr. Von Siebold and M. Burger saw it 

 in Japan, and M. Temminck states that he has seen individuals from 

 that locality in both summer and winter plumage. Sir John Richard- 

 son, who notices it as the Toolee-areeoo, or Tooglee-aiah, of the 

 Esquimaux, says that it is observed in the Fur Countries in similar 

 places to those frequented by the Golden Plover, though it is not 

 equally common, and that it breeds in open grounds from Penn- 

 sylvania to the northern extremity of the continent. He describes a 

 specimen killed at Hudson's Bay (lat. 57) in August 1822. Captain 

 James Ross, in the Appendix to Sir John Ross's ' Last Voyage,' 

 observes that it was more rarely met with than the Golden Plover, 

 but was found breeding near the margins of the marshes immediately 

 to the south-west of Fury Point in considerable numbers. Some 

 specimens were also obtained near Felix Harbour. It is met with in 

 Egypt, and upon the confines of Asia, in Siberia, &c. (Selby.) The 

 last-quoted author states that in Britain there are a few stations 

 on the coast of Northumberland where it is found during the whole 

 winter, but only in families or small flocks. It generally arrives about 

 the middle of September, sometimes even earlier, he adds, at which 

 time several of the old birds still retain a part of their summer 

 plumage. In the month of May they go northward. Mr. Gould says 

 that they appear in the greatest abundance in this country while 

 performing their periodical migrations in the months of April and 

 May along the coasts of Lincolnshire, Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, and 

 Kent. (' Birds- of Europe.') 





Gray Plover or Gray Lapwing (Squatarola cinerta). 

 a, Spring plumage ; ft, Winter plumage. 



Vanettut (Briss.). Bill shorter than the head, straight, slightly 

 compressed, the points of both mandibles horny and hard. Nasal 

 groove wide, and reaching as far as the horny tip. Nostrils basal, 

 linear, pierced in the membrane of the nasal groove. Legs slender, 

 with the lower part of the tibise naked. Feet 4-toed, three before 

 and one behind, united at the base by a membrane ; hind toe very 

 short, articulated upon the tarsus. Tarsi reticulated. Wings ample, 

 tuberculated, or spurred. The first three quill-feathers notched or 



3 p 



