BIRDS OF INDIANA. 743 



117. (277). ^Igialitis meloda (ORD). 



Piping Plover. 



Adult in Summer. Above, pale brownish-gray; forehead, lores, 

 nuchal collar, and lower parts, white; a band across fore part of 

 crown, and one on each side of breast, not meeting in front, black or 

 dusky; bill, yellow or orange, black at tip. In Winter. These black 

 markings replaced by light brownish-gray, and the bill almost entirely, 

 or wholly, black. Immature. Like the winter plumage, but feathers 

 of upper surface with distinctly paler terminal margins. 



Length, 6.25-7.50; wing, 4.50-4.80; culmen, .45-.50; depth of bill at 

 base, .20-.22; tarsus, .85-1.00. 



RANGE. Eastern North America, from West Indies to Labrador. 

 Breeds from Virginia and southwestern Ontario north. Winters from 

 Carolinas southward. 



Eggs, laid on beach, 4; creamy- white, speckled with black and 

 purplish gray; 1.27 by .96. 



Rare migrant over most of the State; probably summer resident, 

 with the nest along Lake Michigan. It has been reported by L. A. 

 and C. D. Test, from Lafayette, September 18, 1895, which is the 

 usual time of their departure. Mr. Ruthven Deane obtained both 

 forms of the Piping Plover from the same flock at English Lake, 

 May 17, 1891. This bird is not as often seen with us as the next. I 

 doubt not these two forms will be considered one ere long. The differ- 

 ences do not seem to be such that they should remain separated. 



i 

 118. (277a). ^Egialitis meloda circumcincta RIDGW. 



Belted Piping Plover. 



Similar to ffi. meloda, but with a continuous black band across the 

 breast. Size of last. 



RANGE. Interior of North America. Breeds from northern Indi- 

 ana, northern Illinois and probably Nebraska north to Lake Winni- 

 peg. Winters along Gulf coast. 



Eggs, as in last. 



Migrant over most of the State; summer resident in considerable 

 numbers along Lake Michigan. Breeds. 



With us this variety and the species last named are found together, 

 the greater number, however, being this form. Mr. Nelson notes their 

 arrival near Chicago the middle of April. Mr. H. K. Coale took one 

 at Tolleston, Lake County, May 1, 1880, and a pair near Whiting, May 



