BLACK-BELLIED PLOVER. 165 



tipt with white; tail white, broadly barred with black; no golden 

 spots. 



An adult female, shot at Egg-Harbour, on the 26th May, was 

 twelve inches in length; upper parts olive brown, spotted with 

 black and white, the long feathers of the sides, at the junction 

 of the wings, black; wings crossed with a broad band of white, 

 immediately under their coverts, spreading over their shafts; 

 secondaries pale olive, edged and tipt with white; primaries, 

 and their coverts, black; throat and sides of the neck white, 

 spotted with dark olive; breast and belly, as far as the thighs, 

 black, intermixed with white; legs and feet deep purplish slate. 

 The black of the lower parts was not so deep as that of the 

 foregoing male. Her eggs were small. 



A young male, shot at Egg-Harbour, in the month of October, 

 had whitish spots on a brownish black ground; crown nearly 

 black, spotted with brownish yellow; breast, throat and eye- 

 brows, pure white; the long feathers of the sides, at the junction 

 of the wings, black; legs and feet lead-coloured. 



A young bird in Peale's collection, supposed to be a male of 

 the first year, has its head, neck, and whole upper parts, brown 

 ash or dark gray, spotted with white; breast white, with pale 

 brown ash intermixed; lower part of the abdomen, and under 

 tail-coverts, white; tail white, with large bars of ashy brown; 

 lining of the wings white; the long feathers of the sides, at the 

 junction of the wings, dusky; primaries paler than in the adult, 

 but similarly marked with white. It has no golden or orange 

 coloured spots. 



I have little doubt that the Black-bellied Plover described by 

 Pennant as common at Hudson's bay, and called there Hawk's- 

 eye, is this speces, although authors record it among the syno- 

 nymes of the Golden Plover, in its spring dress. The hind toe 

 of this species is very small and slender; and in dried specimens 

 it adheres so closely to the tarsus that it is frequently overlooked. 

 It likewise is liable to be rubbed off; this accident probably oc- 

 curred to the specimen figured and described by Edwards, under 

 the name of Spotted Plover; for I have no hesitation in pro- 





