482 



PLOVER. 



which is very broad, and the top of the head. A 

 narrow streak above the eye, the front of the neck, 

 and the breast, are very pale russet. The coverts of 

 the wings are whitish ash, and the quills mottled black 

 and white. The tail-feathers are bluish, with the tips 

 of the external ones black and white. All the under 

 part from the breast is white. The bill is blackish, 

 and the feet bluish. In the breeding season the male 

 acquires a black gorget, but loses it when that season 

 is over. 



SPUR-WINGED PLOVER (C. spinosus). This species 

 h* African, and about eleven inches in length. As 

 the specific name imports, the turn of the wing is 

 armed with a horny spur. The Supper plumage is 

 reddish brown. The head greenish black, and fur- 

 nished with long thread-like feathers. The throat, 

 breast, quills, and tips of the tail-feathers are black. 

 The sides of the neck, the larger coverts of the wings, 

 and the belly, are yellowish white. The spur is 

 whitish, and the bill and feet black. The neck of the 

 female is whitish. 



HOODED PLOVER (C. pileatus}. This is also an 

 African species, measuring about ten inches in length. 

 The upper parts are reddish grey, the head dark, 

 and a band down each side of the neck ; the chin 

 also has a black band passing round the throat ; the 

 nape is white, the quills and tips of the tail-feathers 

 are blackish ; all the under parts are white, sometimes 

 streaked with dusky on the foreneck and breast ; the 

 bill, and a naked membrane in front of the eye-brow, 

 are yellow ; the feet are red. 



Those of this peculiar type are not exclusively 

 confined to Africa; there are some in South America, 

 one of which is the 



CAYENNE PLOVER (C. Cayanm), Although this 

 one is named the Cayenne plover, it is more of a 

 Brazilian bird, Brazil being much more a ploverian 

 country than Cayenne. It is a bird about nine inches 

 long ; the upper part is blackish, mottled with grey 

 and white on the mantle. There is a broad band of 

 black in front of the eyes, and a breast-plate of the 

 same ; a large patch of grey, margined with white, 

 covers the occiput ; the tail-feathers are white with 

 black tips ; there are red spurs to the wing ; the bill is 

 black, and the feet orange ; it will be perceived that, 

 except in size and colour, this bird bears a strong 

 resemblance to the spur-winged plover of Africa. 

 Specimens of this group also occur in Asia, one of 

 which is the 



WATTLED PLOVER (C. bilobatus), which is a native 

 >f India, and measures about ten inches in length. 

 The upper plumage is yellowish grey ; the top of 

 the head black ; there is a white spot behind the eye ; 

 a white band across the coverts of the wings, the 

 quills black, the lateral tail-feathers white, and a black 

 bar across the others ; the bill and feet are yellow, 

 and there is a painted wattle or membrane of the same 

 colour pendent from each angle of the gape. 



There are other plovers of Africa which have not 

 the characters of the group which we have been 

 noticing, and they are generally of a smaller size. 

 Among them we may mention the 



DOUBLE-COLLARED PLOVER (C. bitorquatus}. It 

 is about seven inches in length, the same size as our 

 collared plover, but rather a more showy bird. The 

 upper parts are brown, glossed with metallic reflec- 

 tions ; a white band passes over the forehead, the 

 eyes, and the nape ; the neck is grey, with a black 

 collar, then a white, and below that another black 



one, extending partly on the breast ; the outer tail- 

 feathers and all the under parts are white. 



There are various species of plovers in Australia, 

 which are generally of rather small dimensions, and 

 appear in their habits to follow the ring-plover rather 

 than the common plover. 



RED-CAITED PLOVER (C. pyroccphalus). This is 

 seven inches long. The upper parts are browni-.li 

 grey ; the top of the head bright brownish red, with a 

 band of white on the forehead ; the lower coverts are 

 brown with white shafts, and the middle ones are 

 mottled with grey and white ; there is a half collar of 

 red on the neck, and a gorget of black on the breast, 

 and the space between these, and also all the under 

 parts, are white ; the bill is black and the feet 

 reddish. 



The islands of the Eastern Archipelago, and near 

 the remote isles of the Pacific, have their plovers, 

 but they do not appear to differ from the other plovers 

 of warm countries in any essential point. 



America, north, south, and central, contains a great 

 number of plovers ; those of the north bearing a very 

 considerable resemblance to the ones with which we 

 are acquainted in Europe. The common plover of 

 Europe, which is indeed a plover of many parts of 

 the world, is by no means rare in North America ; 

 but as its appearance and manners are nearly the 

 same every where, to repeat either would only he 

 occupying space without any corresponding advan- 

 tage. It seems, however, that this species is con- 

 siderably mo^e migratory in America than it is in 

 Europe, just as it is more migratory in continental 

 Europe than in the British Islands. But this might 

 be expected, because all birds are more migratory in 

 North America than they are in the corresponding 

 latitudes of Europe. The mountains there are not 

 well adapted for being the summer retreat of birds, 

 especially stilt birds, which, though they are never in 

 the water, always like to be near it, and therefore the 

 summer migration, which is an upland migration with 

 us, and may be north, south, east, or west, according 

 to circumstances, is a latitudinal migration in America, 

 always to the north ; and the greater number of the 

 stilt birds which make their appearance in the United 

 States during the winter, pass the summer northward 

 of the St. Lawrence and the great lakes, where the 

 marshy country, and the dry and warm season, are 

 remarkably well adapted to their habits. Those 

 plovers, which may be said to be properly American 

 birds, are not quite so migratory, though they also 

 shift their ground a little with the seasons. We shall 

 notice a few of them. 



WILSON'S PLOV r ER(C. WUsonius). According to Wil- 

 son, by whom it was first observed, " This bird very 

 much resembles the ring-plover, except in the length 

 and colour of the bill, its size, and in wanting the yellow 

 eyelids. The males and females of this species differ 

 in their markings, but the ring- plovers nearly agree. 

 We conversed with some sportsmen near Cape May, 

 who asserted that they were acquainted with these 

 birds, and that they sometimes made their appearance 

 in flocks of considerable numbers, others had no 

 knowledge of them. That the species is rare we 

 were well convinced, as we have diligently explored 

 the shore of a considerable part of Cape May, in the 

 vicinity of Great Egg Harbour, many times at dif- 

 ferent seasons, and had never seen them before. 

 How long they remain on our coast, and where they 

 winter, we are unable to say. From the circumstance 



