BIRDS OP INDIANA. 735 



XX. FAMILY CHARADFUID^E. PLOVERS. 



a 1 . Plumage above speckled, below black in breeding season. CHARADRIUS. 59 



a 2 . Plumage of upper parts not speckled; neck, with dark rings; toes, always 



three. .]]< ; TALTTIS. 60 



59. GKNUS CHARADRIUS LINN^US. 

 41 1 . Hind toe well developed, without claw. 



Subgenus SQUATAROLA Cuvier. C. squatarola (Linn.). 113 

 a a . Hind toe absent. Subgenus CHARADRIUS. C. dominicus Mull. 114 



Subgenus SQUATAROLA Cuvier. 



113. (2TO). Charadrius squatarola (LINN.). 



Black-bellied Plover. 

 Synonyms, OX-EYE, BULL-HEAD. 



Black-bellied Plover. Natural size. 



Adult in Breeding Season. Karely seen in the United States; face 

 and entire under parts, black; upper parts, variegated with black and 

 white, or ashy; tail, barred with black and white; quills, dusky, with 

 large white patches. Adults at other times and Immature. : Below, 

 white, more or less shaded with gray; the throat and breast, more or 

 less speckled with dusky; above, blackish, speckled with .white or yel- 

 lowish; the rump, white, with dark bars; legs, dull bluish. Old birds 

 changing show every grade, from a few isolated feathers on the under 

 parts to numerous large black patches. They may be recognized in 

 -any plumage by the small hind toe. 



Length, 10.50-12.00; wing, 7.50; culmen, 1.10; tarsus, 1.95. 



KA^GE. Nearly cosmopolitan. Breeds in the Arctic regions, and 

 winters from Louisiana and Florida southward. It has been recently 

 shown that the Black-bellied Plover and a number of other birds, in- 

 cluding the Knot, Hudsonian Curlew, and Turnstone, -which have 

 been credited with spending the breeding season in the Arctic regions, 



