SPECIES 3. CHARADRIUS WILSONIUS. 



WILSON'S PLOVER. 



[Plate LXXIIL Fig. 5.] 



PEALE'S Museum, JVo. 4159, male 4160, female. 



OF this neat and prettily marked species I can find no account, 

 and have concluded that it has hitherto escaped the eye of the 

 naturalist. The bird, of which the figure in the plate is a correct 

 resemblance, was shot the thirteenth of May, 1813, on the 

 shore of Cape-Island, New Jersey, by my ever-regretted friend ; 

 and I have honoured it with his name. It was a male, and was 

 accompanied by another of the same sex, and a female, all of 

 which were fortunately obtained. 



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 con- 

 versed with some sportsmen of 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 had diligently explored the shore of a 

 considerable part of Cape May, in the vicinity of Great Egg- 

 harbour, many times, at different 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 of 

 the oviduct of the female being greatly enlarged, and containing 

 an egg half grown, apparently within a week of being ready for 

 exclusion, we concluded that they breed there. Their favourite 

 places of resort appear to be the dry sand flats on the seashore. 

 They utter an agreeable piping note; and run swiftly. 



This species is eight inches in length, and fifteen and a half 



