Plovers 357 



Golden Plovers. Another considerable genus of Plovers is Charadrius, in 

 which the inner secondaries are very long and pointed, the plumage of the under 

 parts uniform black in the summer dress and the upper parts speckled with 

 golden yellow at all seasons; there is no hind toe. Of these the Golden Plover 

 (C. apricarius) is one of the best known. It is a handsome bird, eleven inches in 

 length, with the upper parts grayish black spotted with bright ochre-yellow, the 

 black under parts being set off by a white line which runs through the eye and 

 down the neck to the flanks; in winter the under parts are white. It is found in 

 summer throughout Europe and northern Asia and in winter in northern Africa 

 and India; it also breeds in Greenland. It frequents the moors and open places 

 in summer, and in fall unites in flocks, often of some size. It is much esteemed 

 for food and has been so persecuted that in many localities it is now rare or even 

 entirely exterminated. Its habits are those of Plovers in general. The American 

 Golden Plover (C. dominicus] is very similar, but has the axillars and under wing- 

 coverts smoky gray instead of white. It breeds in Arctic America and in winter 

 migrates southward over practically the whole of North and South America. 

 A form with relatively shorter wings and with the golden spots of the upper parts 

 larger (C. d. fulvus} breeds in northern Asia and Alaska, and goes in winter 

 through India, China, etc., to Australia and Polynesia. 



Crook-billed Plover. We may here mention the remarkable Crook-bill 

 Plover (Anarhynchus frontalis] of New Zealand, in which the long, slender bill 

 is curved strongly to the right at about two thirds its length from the base. This 

 curious little bird is about eight and a half inches long, cinereous gray above and 

 white below, with a broad white band on the breast and a white forehead. Buller 

 has called attention to the fact that the black pectoral band is far more conspicu- 

 ous on the right-hand side, since from its peculiar feeding habits there is less 

 necessity for protective coloration on this side. The curved bill, instead of being 

 a deformity or hindrance, as was at first supposed, is found to be of particular 

 assistance in securing its food of insects and worms under stones and pebbles. 



The Dotterels are another group of small Plovers but with no very strongly 

 marked characters. The word itself is a diminutive of Dott, a bird that was 

 so called from its alleged stupidity, and there is a very ancient tradition or fable 

 that the common European Dotterel (Eudromias morinellus} when approached 

 by the fowler stretched out a wing or leg as the former reached out an arm or leg, 

 the bird becoming so interested in the imitation that it neglected its own safety 

 and was taken in the net. This no doubt arose from the fact that the bird, which 

 is of a very tame and confiding disposition, has the habit of stretching out a wing 

 and leg before it moves off. It is a handsome, richly colored little bird about nine 

 inches long, the upper parts being ash-brown, many of the feathers margined with 

 rufous, the crown black, with a white band extending from the eye round the nape, 

 while the throat is white, the upper breast ashy, succeeded by a white band on the 

 lower throat, and the breast and flanks bright chestnut, and the abdomen black. 

 Curiously enough the female is larger and more brightly colored than the male. 

 This species is a native of northern Europe and northern Asia, breeding mainly 

 on the cold tundras above the limit of trees, and spending the winter in the 



