THE PIPING PLOVER. 421 



iEGIALITIS MELODUS. — (Ord) Cabanis. 



The Piping Plover. 



Charadrius melodus, 'Nuttall. Man., II. 18. Aud. Om. Biog., III. (1835) 154; 

 V. S78. 



^gialtes melodus, Bonaparte. List (1838). 

 ^gialitis melodus, Cabanis. Jour. (1856), 424. 

 Charadrius hiaiicula. Wils. Am. Orn., V. (1812) 30. 



Description. 



About the size of the preceding; bill short, strong. 



Adult. — Forehead, ring around the back of the neck, and entire under parts, 

 white, a band of black in front above the band of white ; band encircling the neck 

 before and behind black, immediately below the ring of white on the neck behind ; 

 head above, and upper parts of body, light brownish-cinereous ; rump and upper tail 

 coverts lighter, and often nearly white ; quills dark-brown, with a large portion of 

 their inner webs and shafts white ; shorter primaries with a large portion of their 

 outer webs white; tail at base white, and with the outer feathers white; middle 

 feathers with a wide subterminal band of brownish-black, and tipped with white; 

 bill orange at base, tipped with black; legs orange-yellow. 



Female. — Similar to the male, but with the dark colors lighter and less in extent. 



Young. — No black band in front; collar around the back of the neck ashy- 

 brown; iris brown. 



Total length, about seven inches ; wing, four and a half inches ; tail, two inches. 



Eab. — Eastern coast of North America; Nebraska (Lieut. Warren); Louisiana 

 (Mr. G. Wurdemann). 



This pretty and well-known species is pretty abundantly 

 distributed along the coast of New England as a summer 

 resident. It arrives from the South about the 20th of April 

 in small flocks, and soon selects its breeding-residence on 

 some tract of ocean beach ; dividing, early in May, into pairs, 

 which, however, associate somewhat together through the 

 whole season. It occasionally penetrates into the interior, 

 and has been known to breed on the borders of a pond 

 twenty miles from the seaboard ; but generally, in New Eng- 

 land, it seldom wanders far from the shore, where it is one 

 of the most beautiful and interesting of our Waders. 



It seems to prefer sandy islands a short distance from the 

 main land for its breeding-place. I have found numbers 

 breeding on the island of Muskegeet, ofiF the southern coast 

 of Massachusetts, and have found it on many others of our 

 islands of similar character. 



