SHORE BIRDS OF NORTH AMERICA. 77 



SUBGENUS OCHTHODROMUS REICH. 



^EQIALITIS WILSONIA (Ord). 



Wilson's Plover. 



Adult male : Above, ashy brown ; forehead, white, 

 extending into a faint superciliary stripe of dull black 

 on the crown; throat, white, continuing on the sides of 

 the neck, nearly joining upon the nape ; a black, pecto- 

 ral baud, the feathers edged with white, becoming brown 

 upon the sides ; under parts, white ; two central tail 

 feathers, brown, the others showing increasing markings 

 of white to the outer tail feathers, which are white ; bill, 

 black (large and stout) ; legs, pinkish. 



Female and immature birds have the pectoral baud 

 brown, and no black on the head. 



Length, 7.45; wing, 4.GO; tail, 1.90; tarsus, 1.16; 



bill, .90. 

 TEpialitis Wilsonia. 



Wilson's Plover occurs both on the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of North 

 America, ranging from Long Island and Lower California southward to the 

 West Indies and South America. Stragglers have been recorded as far north 

 as Nova Scotia. 



It frequents the sandy beaches and flats often in company with other species. 

 It breeds from Virginia southward, the nest being a mere depression in the 

 sand. The eggs are usually three in number, dull white, spotted and marked 

 with chocolate brown. 



