BLACK-BELLIED PLOVER. 455 



•who had charge of the conveyance and sat in the bnggy, declared that every bird fell, 

 I walked over the gronnd and picked np twelve dead birds ; from the first to the last 

 the distance was abont twenty yards. The next day, on passing the place the dog came 

 to a point ; not expecting a repetition of the slaughter, I walked np, but no bird flushed 

 I now moved some dead grass, and found the one I had winged the day before, and 

 which was so badly wounded that I killed him as a kindness. Here the whole covey was 

 exterminated ; but as I felt sorry for the act, did not intend it, and would never do it 

 again, it should not be oonsidared unpardonable. Experience, however, sustains the 

 position taken by sportsmen, that the judicious use of the gun merely diminishes by 

 drawing upon the yearly increase, and does not oppose the preservation and healthy 

 propagation of these birds. 



Still, if unmolested, they would not, perhaps, under the most favorable circumstances, 

 become in excess of their nsefalness to the agriculturist. Yet, however plentiful they 

 may be, it seems an inexcusable cruelty to take their lives either for gain or amusement, 

 and I agree with Mr. Herbert : ' were I a farmer, I would hang it over my kitchen fire- 

 place, inscribed in goodly capitals — Spare the Quail ! If yon would have clean fields 

 and goodly crops, spare the Quail ! So shall yon spare your labor.' " 



ORDER LIMICOL^. SHORE BIRDS. 



FAMILY CHARABRIID^. PLOVER. 



Legs moderate. Tarsus shorter than tail, reticulate. Hind toe wanting (except in 

 Sqnaiarola, where very small, and in Aphriza). Bill short, straight, not exceeding the 

 head (generally shorter), shaped like a pigeon's, with short, broad, soft nasal fossaa sep- 

 arated by a constriction from the enlarged, obtuse, horny terminal part. Head large, 

 globose, contracting suddenly to the bill. Neck short. 



Sub-family CHARADRIIN^. True Plover. 



Size moderate or small ; body plump; neck thick. &ape very short, reaching' little 

 beyond base of culmen. Tarsus reticulate, longer than middle toe. Tail of twelve 

 feathers, nearly even, or rounded. 



Genus SQUATAEOLA.. Cnvier. 



Hind toe rudimentary. Legs reticulated with elongated hexagons anteriorly, of which 

 there are five or six in a transverse row, fewer behind. Tail slightly rounded. 



Squatarola helvetica (L.) Brehm. 



Black-bellied JPlover. 



Charadrius TieheiioHB, Kirtland, Ohio Geolog. Sarv., 1838, 165, 185. 



Sftuariarola (error) Mvetiia, Whbaton, Ohio Agric, Eep. for 1860, 368 ; Reprint, 1861, 10. 



SquuiaroJa helvtiiea, Whbaton, Food of Birds, etc., Ohio Agric. Eep. for 1874, 572 ; Ee- 



print, 1875, 12.— Langdon, Cat. Birds of Cin., 1877, 14 ; Eevised L'st, Journ. Cin. 



Soo. Nat. Hist., i, 1879, 181 ; Eeprint, 15.— Dury and Frksman, ib., iii, 1880, 104 ; 



Eeprint, 5. 



Tringa helvetica, Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., i, 1763, 250. 

 Squatarola helvetiea, Bkbhm, V. D., 554. 



