CIIARADRIID-E — THE TLOVERS — PODASOCYS. 173 



and below, the black markiugs ot' the head wautiug. You7ig, first plumage : All the feathers of 

 the upper parts distinctly bordered with light bull'; whole side of head and neck, and entire jugu- 

 luni, deep light creamy buff. Domnj Young : Above brownish buff, mottled with black, this form- 

 ing a distinct niarljling on the crown and occiput, where the ground-color is lighter and clearer 

 buff. Lower parts pale buff, immaculate. 



Total lengtli, about 8 inches; wing, (i.OO ; tail, 2.75; culmen, .80-90; tarsus, l.uO-1.60 ; 

 middle toe, .70. 



There is considerable individual variation in the extent and distinctness of black on the head 

 in fully adult birds, some specimens having the whole crown black, while in others this color is 

 limited to a crescentic mark just behind the white of the forehead ; in some examples the black 

 loral stripe is barely indicated. 



The Kocky Jlountaiu Plover, us ilr. Audubon, not very happily, has designated 

 this species, has an extended distribution, from Arizona and Southwestern Texas on 

 the south, to our farthest boundaries on the north, and probably beyond, and from 

 Eastern Kansas and Nebraska to the grassy plains that border the Pacific itself. 

 It is of accidental occurrence in Florida. While in regard to its peculiar specific 

 habits, especially during the breeding-season, much remains to be learned, the last 

 few years have added greatly to our knowledge of its history. It is not entitled to 

 be regarded as a mountain bird, as it confines itself to high and dry level plains, and 

 is never to l)e met with nearer to mountains than their base. 



This bird was first described by Townsend in 1837, and the description of its 

 habits, briefly narrated by Xuttall, was quoted by Audubon in 1842. The former 

 author regarded the species as closely allied to Wilson's Plover. He met with it, 

 only during one or two days, on the central tablelands of the Kocky INIountains, in 

 the plains near the last of the branches of the Platte ; and as it was in the month 

 of July, he had no doubt that the bird was breeding in the Subalpine regions. The 

 only individual obtained was seen skulking and running through the artemisia bushes 

 that so generally clothe those arid and dry wastes. After running some time, it 

 would remain perfectly still, as if conscious of the difliculty of distinguishing it from 

 the gray soil on which it stood, and with the color of which its own was so nearly 

 identical. All that were seen were similar to the specimen obtained, but none could 

 be induced, on being flushed, to take wing. He heard from it no note or cry of 

 complaint of any kind, and it apparently sought by silence to conceal its young or 

 its eggs. 



We are indebted to Dr. J. G. Cooper ('•' Am. Nat." III. p. 183; for our tii'st full and 

 accurate account of the habits and distribution of this species. Dr. Cooper mentions 

 meeting with it on his route from Los Angeles, Cal., to Fort Jlohave. The birds 

 were running in scattered flocks over the driest tracts, or wheeling in swift columns 

 around the sportsman, their white under parts shining like siuiwflakes as they 

 turned while on the wing, in the manner of their more aquatic cousins of the sea- 

 shore. The same writer afterward speaks ("Am. Xat." III. p. 298) of finding this 

 Plover on the plains of the tapper Missouri, in the driest spots and among the villages 

 of the prairie-dog. In ilontana Dr. Cooper found it rare along the eastern base of 

 the Rocky Mountains. There also they were usually met with about the prairie-dog 

 villages ; but thej- apparently did not cross the mountains in as large numbers as they 

 do farther south. 



Dr. Cooper also states that this species belongs almost exclusively to the vast 

 deserts and plains of the central parts of North America, only visiting the vicinitj- 

 of the sea-coast in the wet season. They are found in the extensive plains near Los 

 Angeles after the middle of October, but are not known to be there in the summer. 



