CIIARADRTID.E — THE PLOVERS — .EOIALITIS. 



165 



wliolly whitp. Two outer tail-fpnther;' wlmlly whit", thu rest j^rowiu},' j»ni<luiilly darker to the 

 inner pair, which i»re wholly (hisky. Ailitlt fi mnli : Siniihir to the ninle, hut the liliick niarkin^M 

 icsis distinct (rtonietime-* nearly ohsoletc). Bill and eyeliils deep lilack ; irin deep l)rown ; lejja 

 iliill slate-color ; toes ijlack ; interior of nioiilh lleshy white. Youiuj : More ashy iiliove, the Mack 

 nmrkingf' replaced by ashy ; feathers of tiie upper parts indistinctly bonleix-d with whitish. 



IlVn/rr pliimai/i: 



Bnirny younfi : Aliovo, jmlo fjmyish huff, interrupted by a white nuchal coUur, the whole of the 

 iiilored portion irregularly ni-iitleil with black. Forehead, lower parts, and liand-winj;, white. A 

 distinct po.'ttocular streak of dusky. 



Total lenj,'th, «.2.") to 7 inches; extent of wings, 13 to 14.7'); wing 4.2(M..3() ; culmcn, .()(» ; 

 tarsus, .!)(>-l.(C) ; middle toe, ..V)-.(«). 



.Specimens vary chiefly in the depth of the ocIiracfHius tinge to the hood and in the distinctness 

 of the black markings. In some the former feature is so pronounced as to offer a strong contrast 

 iil'crdor to the liack, wiiile in others, shot from the same llock, there is scarcely a trace of the buff 

 tinge. Some females have the black as distinct as in the males ; in others it is almost obsiilete. 



There can be no ipiestiou as to tlie propriety of separating this bird from .L. ulr-miKlrinu (vel 

 cantiiimi) of Eurojte, although the ivlationship is very dose. The latter, however, is uniformly 

 larger, with longer tarsi and wings, and has invariably a distinct line of black running from the 

 rictus to the eye across the lores — which mark is rarely even indicate(l in the .Vmerican bird, 

 though in a veiy small percentage it occurs ; never .so distinct aiul continuous, however, as in the 

 Old World form. 



I 



"w 





Thi.s species was first dcsprilM'tl by Air. Cassiii from a single oxtuuple (d)taine(l by 

 Lieutenant Trowbridge on the eoast near .San Francisco. The extent of it.s distribu- 

 tion aiul its spreitic peculiarities may still be but imi)erfectly known ; it api)ears, 

 linwevcr, to be nearly restricted to the region between the shores of the I'acitic and 

 the Uoeky Mountains, occurring in South .\uierica as far as ("hili. aiul on both shores 

 of Michlle America. So far as its Jiabits have become kiu)wn, tiiey ajtpear to conform 

 to those of all the other uu'iul)ers cd' this family in regard to its food, its manner of 

 tligiit. its movements on the laiul, its mode of nesting on the bare sand, and in all its 

 ]ieciiliarities of breeding. Thiit it nuiy migrate in the winter to the Pacific coast of 

 Central America is made to iii)pear jirobable by the fact that Mr. Salvin i)r()cured at 

 Cliiapam, (iiuitemala. in Septemljer. 1S(»1'. a single specimen of a Plover referable to 

 *liis species; ami Messrs. Sclater and Salvin mentiiui its occurrence at Islay, Peru. 



Mr. H. W. llenshaw (Lieutenant Wheeler's '• Heport," 1870, p. li(>S) found this spo- 

 iii's abundant on the coast of (Jalifocnia. At Santa liiirbara it occurred in large num- 

 bers, t'rerpienting there oidy the .sandy shores, not following the creeks inland, and 

 never visiting the marshes, though ihese were within a few yards of its breeding- 

 ground. Its habits seemed to Ik^ exactly tho.se of the common IMping Plover, and 

 its notes very similar to those of that binl. Its fooil consists of all sorts of worms 

 and marine Crustacea, which it finds close to the water's edge, following the retreat- 



