598 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. —LIMICOL^. 



are crested. These are all near VaneUus prcjper, and a part of them are 4-toed. Our species 



are found along the seashore, by the water's edge in other open places, and in dry plains and 



fields. They all perform extensive migrations, appearing with great regularity in the spring 



and fall, and most of them breed far northward. They are all more or less gregarious, except 



when breeding. They run and fly with great rapidity ; the voice is a mellow whistle ; the 



food is chiefly of an animal nature. The eggs are commonly four in number, speckled, very 



large at one end and pointed at the other, placed with the small ends together in a slight nest 



or mere depression in the ground. The sexes are generally similar, but the changes with age 



and season are great. 



Analysis of Geiiera, 

 Toes 4. 



Head not cre.'!ted. 



Tarsi scutellate in front ; toes cleft to base Aphriza 221 



Tarsi reticulate ; toes witlx basal web Squatarola 216 



Head witli a long flowing crest VaneUus 220 



Toes 3. 



Plumage of upper parts speckled ; no rings or bands of color about bead or neck . . . Charadrius 217 

 Plumage of upper parts not speckled ; rings or bauds of color about head and neck. 



Tarsus not nearly twice as long as middle toe without claw .Mgialites 218 



Tarsus about twice as long as middle toe without claw Podasocys 219 



216. SQUATARO'LA. (Ital. sgwatoroto, name of the species. Fig. 416.) Four-toed Plover. 

 A small but distinct hind toe, contrary to the rule in this family. Tail less than half as long as 

 wing. Tarsus much longer than middle toe and 

 claw. Tibia bare below, reticulate like the 

 tarsus. Basal web between outer and middle 

 toes. Upper plumage speckled, lower black or 



white ; no lings or bars of color about head or '■' , , , jT!'^''^ "'^^ 



neck. Legs dark-ciJored. Tail fully barred. ^CT — -Ife '^S-.^aW tB i^: 

 Seasonal changes of plumage very great ; sexes 



alike. ^^^5^5?*^^ 



680. S. helve'tica. (Lat. Helvetica, Helvetian, Swiss. ^^^^^^^ ' 



Fig. 417.) Swiss Plover. Black-bellied 

 Plover. Bull-head Plover. Whistling 

 Field Plover. Ox-eye. (J 9 , in summer : 

 Upper parts fretted with blackish and ashy-white, Fio. 416. — Bill and hind toe of Squatarola, nat. 



the feathers being white basally, then black, «^«- (^d "at. del. E. C.) 



tipped and usually scalloped with white. Upper tail-coverts mostly white, with few dark 

 touches. Fore-head, line over eye and thence more broadly over side of neck, the lining of 

 wings, tibiae, vent and under tail-coverts, white. Sides of head to an extent embracing the 

 eyes, axillary plumes, and entire under parts (except as said), black. Tail closely barred with 

 black and white. Primaries dark brown, blackening at tips, with large basal areas and a 

 portion of their shafts, white. Bill and feet black. Length 11.00-12.00; wing 7.00-7.50; 

 tail 3.00; bill 1.00-1.2.3; tarsus 2.00; middle toe and claw 1.33; tibia? bare 1.00. But such 

 a bird as this rarely seen in the U. S. (? ? , old, in fall and winter, as usually seen in U. S. 

 Under parts white or whitish, anteriorly speckled or mottled with grayish-brown; axillary 

 plumes, however, blaclt, as before; a good color-mark of the species, in any plumage, in com- 

 parison with the golden plover. Birds changing show every mixture of black and white below. 

 (J 9 , young : Similar to winter adults, but upper parts speckled with golden-yellow, as in 

 C dominicus, most of the feathers having edgings of this color. Feet grayish-blue. A large 

 stout plover, with a little hind toe, commonly diffused over most parts of the world : in America, 

 brreding in Arctic regicms, flocking south and north in fall and spring, preferably coastwise; 

 common, I>ut less so than C. dominicus. Eggs 4, pyriform, 1.90 to 2.30 long by 1.40 to 1.45 

 broad ; drab or darlc brownish clay-color, very heavily marked, especially on the larger half of 



