GRALLJE — CHARADRIDjE — CHAR ADRIUS. 211 



WILSON'S PLOVER. 

 Charadritjs wilsonius. 



PLATE LXXVIII. FIG. 176 (Male). 

 (STATE COLLECTION.) 



Charadrius irilsonius. Ord, Supplement to Wilson's Ornith. Vol. 9, p. 242, pi. 73, fig. 5. Bonaparte, Ann. 



Lye. Nat. Hist. Vol. 2, p. 206. 

 C. id., Wilson's Plover. Nuttall, Manual Ornith. Vol. 2, p. 21. 

 C id. Audubon, Birds of America, Vol. 5, p. 214, pi. 319 (m. & f.). 

 JEgialites id. Bonaparte, Geog. and Comp. List, p. 45. 

 C. id., Wilson's Plover. Giraud, Birds of Long island, p. 216. 



Characteristics. Front, neck and all beneath white : frontlet, and a broad belt round the 

 breast black. Bill large and black. Female : Belt round the neck, 

 dusky brown. Length, 7*5. 



Description. Bill as long as the head, stout, straight, somewhat swollen at the end, nearly 

 an inch long ; the posterior part of the turgid portion of the upper mandible compressed into 

 a carina. The two outer toes connected by a membrane. Tail broad, slightly rounded, of 

 twelve feathers, and extending beyond the tips of the closed wings. 



Color. Above ash-colored. Forehead white ; lores and anterior part of the crown black 

 or dusky brown. A broad black collar on the front of the breast, passing into light fern> 

 ginous on the back part of the neck. Ear-feathers light brownish drab. Tail greyish ; the 

 two outer feathers nearly all white. 



Length, 7-0-8-0. 



This southern species is rare on our coast, which appears to form the limit of its northern 

 migration. It has often been confounded with the preceding, from which it may readily be 

 distinguished by its long black bill. Its eggs cream-color, with dots and spots of light brown. 

 It ranges from the 24th to the 42d degree of north latitude. According to Mr. Linsley, it 

 occurs on the coast of Connecticut. It breeds from Texas to New- York, and is a winter 

 resident in the Southern States. 



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