170 CHARADRIIDjE. 



387. CHARADRIUS DOMINICUS, Mtiller. 

 (AMERICAN GOLDEN PLOVER.) 



Charadrius virginianus, Burm. La-Plata Reise, ii. p. 501. Charadrius 

 virginicus, ticl. et Salv. Nomencl. p. 142; Durnford, Ibis, 1877, p. 197 

 (Buenos Ayres) ; White, P. Z. S. 1882, p. 628 (Buenos Ayres) ; Barrows, 

 Auk, 1884, p. 313 (Bahia Blanca) ; Withington, Ibis, 1888, p. 472 (Lomas 

 de Zamora). Charadrius dominicus, Baird, Brew., et Ridgw. Water-B. 

 N. A. i. p. 139. Charadrius fulvus americanus, Seebohm, Plovers, 

 p. 100. 



Description. Above brownish black, with numerous irregular spots of yellow ; 

 forehead, superciliary stripe, and sides of neck white : beneath black ; crissum 

 whitish ; axillaries smoky grey ; bill black ; feet dark grey : whole length 

 10'5 inches, wing 7'0, tail 2-8. Female similar. Young: beneath dirty white, 

 with greyish freckles. 



Hob. America. 



This closely allied representative of the Golden Plover of Europe, 

 from which it is distinguishable mainly by its' rather larger size and 

 smoky-grey axillaries, visits South America in autumn. 



The American Golden Plover is abundant and well known to every- 

 one by its native name Chorlo throughout Southern Argentina. Its 

 wild clear notes are first heard about the last week in August ; and 

 among the first comers many individuals are seen still wearing the 

 nuptial dress. After their long journey from the Arctic regions 

 they are lean and not worth shooting ; two months later they become 

 excessively fat, and are then much appreciated by gourmets. But 

 although so regular in their arrival they do not regularly visit the same 

 localities every season ; the bird may be abundant in a place one year 

 and scarce or absent altogether the next. During the spring, from 

 September to December, they prefer open plains with short grass and 

 in the neighbourhood of wet or marshy ground ; at the end of 

 December, when the giant thistle (Carduus mariana), which often 

 covers large areas of country, has been burnt up by the sun and blown 

 to the ground, they scatter about a great deal in flocks of from one to 

 four or five hundred. At noon, however, they all resort to a lagoon or 

 marshy place containing water, congregating day after day in such 

 numbers that they blacken the ground over an area of several acres in 

 extent; and at a distance of a quarter of a mile the din of their united 

 voices resembles the roar of a cataract. As population increases on the 

 pampas these stupendous gatherings are becoming more and more rare. 

 Twenty-five years ago it was an exceptional thing for a man to possess 

 a gun, or to use one when he had it ; and if Chorlos were wanted, a 

 Gaucho boy, with a string a yard long with a ball of lead attached to 



