WILSON'S PLOVER. 75 



up so as to be within ten yards or so of them. They seldom mix with 

 other species, and they shew a decided preference to solitary uninhabited 

 spots. 



Their food consists principally of small marine insects, minute shell- 

 fish, and sandworms, with which they mix particles of sand. Towards 

 autumn they become almost silent, and being then very plump, afford de- 

 licious eating. They feed fully as much by night as by day, and the 

 large eyes of this as of other species of the genus, seem to fit them for 

 nocturnal searchings. 



The young birds assemble together, and spend the winter months 

 apart from the old ones, which are easily recognised by their lighter 

 tints. While in the Floridas, near St Augustine, in the months of De- 

 cember and January, I found this species much more abundant than any 

 other ; and there were few of the Keys that had a sandy beach, or a rocky 

 shore, on which one or more pairs were not observed. 



Wilson's Plover, Charadhius Wilsovius, fVils. Amer. Ornith. vol. ix. p. 77- 



pi. 73. fig. 5 N'uttall, Manual, vol. ii. p. 21. 



Charadrius Wilsonius, Ch- Bonaparte, Synops. of Birds of the United States, p. 296. 



Adult Female. Plate CCIX. Fig. 2. 



Bill as long as the head, stout, straight, cylindrical, obtuse, and some- 

 what turgid at the tip. Upper mandible with the dorsal line straight 

 until towards the end, when it is slightly arched and declinate, the sides 

 convex, the edges sharp and slightly inflected. Nasal groove extendmg 

 to about half the length of the bill ; nostrils lateral, linear, direct, in the 

 lower part of the bare membrane. Lower mandible with the angle 

 rounded, the dorsal line convex and ascending, the back broad, the sides 

 convex, the edges inflected. 



Head large, a little compressed, the forehead prominent ; eyes large. 

 Neck short. Body rather full. Wings long. Legs rather long, slender ; 

 tibia bare a little above the joint ; tarsus of ordinary length, somewhat 

 compressed, covered with angular scales ; toes small and slender, covered 

 above with numerous small scutella, first toe wanting, fourth longer than 

 second, third longest, the two outer connected at the base by a pretty 

 large web ; claws small, slightly arched, much compressed, obtuse. 



Plumage soft and rather blended. Wings long, narrow, primaries 

 nearly straight, narrow and tapering, the first longest, second a little 



