140 



rU.ECOL'IAL GHALLAToliES — LIMICOL.E. 



adult) : Under parts dull ashy, spotted with brownish on the neck nnd breuyt, fre(iuently more 

 or less mixed with l)liick ; muny spots of the upper' parts dull ashy while ; other 8i)ot», especially 

 on the rump, golden yellow. 



Total length, about 9.60 inches ; wing, 7.00 ; tail, 2.ri() ; culmen, ,92 ; tarsus, 1.70 ; middle 

 toe, .90. 



Specimens vary in the relative amount of the black and golden on the upper j)arts, in the 

 width of the white on the forehead, and other details of coloration. All the specimens in summer 









plumage from Alaska, including St. Miihnel's, Popolf Island, Kadiak, and Sitka, are apparently 

 referable to the American form ; at least we cannot distinguish them from other Xortii Ameri- 

 can e.xamples in the same plumage, while their measurements are decidedly tho.se uf rfomtniViw. 

 Twenty-si.x specimens in all have l)een e.xamined, these; re])re.^enting almost as many localities, 

 from the Arctic coast to Costa Rica. Careful measurements of this series afford the follow- 

 ing re.sults : — Eleven gpeeimenit in mtmiiitr [ilumaije : Wing, 0.8(1-7.3."), average, 7.11; culmen 

 .85-1.00, average, .01 ; tarsus, l.(i(»- 1.8.5, average, 1.73; nii<ldle toe, .8.')-l.or), average, .91. Six 

 adults in chanrjimj plmnnge : Wing, (i. 90-7.30, average, 7.12; culmen, .90-1.00, average, .Oti ; 

 tarsus, l.()5-l.82, average, 1.70 ; middle toe, .80-.9."), average, .90. Seven specimens in uinter 

 plurn/ige (mosflij ijoumj) : Wing, ().80-7.20, average, 7.03 ; culmen, .80-1.00, average, .91 ; tarsus, 

 1.55-1.75, average, l.fifi ; middle toe, .85-.95, average, .87. Average of the whole scries: Wing, 

 7.09; culmen, .91 ; tarsu.s, 1.70; middle toe, .JK». 



The Green, or Golden, Plover of North America is, within the limits of the United 

 States, a migratory speeies exclusively, and is confined, to a large extent, in its flights, 

 to the vicinity of the coast. Straggling parties, in the fall, pass south through the 

 interior; but these are chiefly birds in an immature phnuage. Their migrations 

 in the spring begin, in the more southern States, early in March, and continue 

 through thiit and the following month. Their movement at this season is more rapid 

 than in the fall, and they make few and short pauses, their flights being made more 

 frequently by interior routes. Audubon, when in Xew Orleans, March 16, 1821, wit- 

 nessed €an extraordinary flight of these birds near the Lake of St. John. They passed 

 in many thousands in a northeasterly direction. He estimated the number of Plovers 

 destroyed by the sportsmen on that day at forty-eight thousand. These flights took 

 place only just after there had been several very warm days, followed by a strong 

 northeast wind. The birds were not generally in good condition. 



The late l)r. Lincecum, of ^Vashington Co.. Texas, states in his manuscript notes 

 that all through April the Golden Plov- is passing northward throughout Texas. Only 

 very few stop on the prairie and remain all summer, and these do not breed there. 

 They do not, when they are passing north, trav' in groups, but fly widely scattered, 

 chirping as they go, and seeming to try to keep in hearing of each other. They 

 appear to travel as much by night as during the day, since their peculiar call. 



