GRALLJ3 — CHARADRID.E — CHARADRIUS. 
211 
WILSON’S PLOVER. 
Charabritjs wilsonius. 
PLATE LXXV1II. FIG. 176 (Male). 
(STATE COLLECTION.) 
Charadrius wilsotiius. Ord, Supplement to Wilson’s Ornith. Vol. 9, p.242, pi. 73, fig. 5. Bonaparte, Ann. 
Lyc. Nat. Hist. Vol. 2, p. 296. 
C. id., Wilson's Plover. Nuttall, Manual Ornith. Vol. 2, p. 21. 
C. id. Audubon, Birds of America, Vol. 5, p. 214, pi. 319 (m. & f.). 
SEgialites id. Bonaparte, Geog. and Comp. List, p. 45. 
C. id., Wilson's Plover. Giraud, Birds of Long island, p. 216. 
Characteristics. Front, neck and all beneath white: frontlet, and a broad belt round the 
breast black. Bill large and black. Female: Belt round the neck, 
dusky brown. Length, 7 - 5. 
Description. Bill as long as the head, stout, straight, somewhat swollen at the end, nearly 
an inch long; the posterior part of the turgid portion of the upper mandible compressed into 
a carina. The two outer toes connected by a membrane. Tail broad, slightly rounded, of 
twelve feathers, and extending beyond the tips of the closed wings. 
Color. Above ash-colored. Forehead white; lores and anterior part of the crown black 
or dusky brown. A broad black collar on the front of the breast, passing into light ferru¬ 
ginous on the back part of the neck. Ear-feathers light brownish drab. Tail greyish ; the 
two outer feathers nearly all white. 
Length, 7'0-8 , 0. 
This southern species is rare on our coast, which appears to form the limit of its northern 
migration. It has often been confounded with the preceding, from which it may readily be 
distinguished by its long black bill. Its eggs cream-color, with dots and spots of light brown. 
It ranges from the 24th to the 42d degree of north latitude. According to Mr. Linsley, it 
occurs on the coast of Connecticut. It breeds from Texas to New-York, and is a winter 
resident in the Southern States. 
27' 
