^GIALITIS SEMIPALMATA, SEMIPALMATED PLOVEE. 453 



by oue and one-eighth in breadth, and are of a creamy clay-color, vari- 

 ously bat usually thickly marked with blackish-brown. The marks are 

 usually of small size, tending to speckles and scratches rather than full 

 spots, only a few specimens of the large series before me being boldly 

 spotted around and at the butt. The markings tend to aggregate about 

 the larger end, but are usually quite numerously distributed all over. 

 The ground-color sometimes tends to a brownish-drab rather than the 

 color above mentioned. 



^ iEGIALITIS SBMIPAiMATA, (Bp.) Cab. 

 Semipalmated or Ring Plover. 



Tnnga hiaticula, WiLS., Am. Orn. vii, 1813, 65, pi. 59, f. 3. 



Charadrius hiaticula, Okd, ed. Wils. vii, 69.— Sab., Frankl. Journ. 684.— EiCH., Parry's 



2d Voy. 351. 

 Charadrius {JEgialitis) hiaticula var. semixmlmatus, ElDGW., Ann. Lye. N. Y. x, 1874, 383. 

 Charadrius aemipalmatwi, Bp., Obs. Wils. 18-25, No. 219 ; Syn. 1828, 296 ; Am. Oin. iv, 



1832, 92, pi. 25.— Kaup, Isis, 1825, 1375, pi. 14.— Wagl., Syat. Av. 1827, No. 23.— 



Sw. & ElCH., F. B. A. ii, 1831, 367.— Ndtt., Man. ii, 1834, 24.— AuD., Orn. Biog. 



iv, 1838, 256 ; v, 579 ; pi. 330 ; Syn. 1839, 224 ; B. Am. v, 1842, 218, pi. 320.— L 



PUTX., Pr. Ess. Inst, i, 18.i6, 216.— Schl., M. P.-B. 1865, Cursores, 30.— Gray, 



Hand-list, iii, 1871, 16, No. 10009. 

 ^gialiiis semipalmaius, Bp., Comp. List, 1838, 45.— Cab., J. f. O. 1856, 428.— Bd., B. N. 



A. 1858, 694.— Coop. & Suck., N. H. Wash. Ter. 1860, 231.— Coues, Pr. Phila. 



Acad. 1861, 228.— Coues & Prent.. Smiths. Eep. 1861, 415.— Wheat., Ohio 



Agric. Eep. 1860, No. 193.— Verr., Pr! Ess. Inst, iii, 1862, 22.— Boardm., Pr. Bost. 



Soc. ix, L862, 128.— Dress., Ibis, 1866, 347 (Texas, -wintering).- Coues, Pr. 



Phila. Ac. 1866, 96.— Coues, Pr. Bost. Soc. xii, 1868, 122.— McIlwb., Pr. Ess. Inst. 



v, 1866, 92.— Coues, ibid, v, 1868, 291.— Dall & B.inn., Tr. Chic. Acad, i, 1869, 



290.— TURNB., B. E. Pa. 1869, 29.— Matn., Nat. Guide, 1870, 139.— AiXEsr, Bull. 



M. C. Z. ii, 1871, 355.— Coues, Pr. PhUa. Acad. 1871, 28.— Snow, B. Kans. 1873, 



9.- Coues, Key, 1872, 244. 

 Jlgialeus semipalmaius, Eeich., Syst. Av. 1853. — Allen, Mem. Bost. Soc. i, 1868, 501 ; 



Pr. Ess. Inst, iv, 1864, 77. 

 Charadrius hrei-irostris, Maxiji., Beitr. iv, 769 (Brazil). — ScHOMB., Guiana, iii, 750. — 



BuRM., Ueb. iii, 359. 

 " Charadrius collaris, Licht. nee Vjelll." {ScUegel.) 



Extralimital quotations. — Cab., J. f. O. iv, 1856, 428 (Cuba).— Bry., Pr. Bost. Soc. vii, 

 1859 (Bahamas).— SuND., Ofv. Ak. 1869, 588 (St. Bartholomew).— Lawr., Ann. Lye. N. 

 Y. viii, 1864, 101 (Sombrero); ix, 238 (Puna Island).— ScL., Ibis, 1866, 197 (Guate- 

 mala). — Pelz., Orn. Braz. 297 (Brazil). — Darw., Voy. Beagle, 128 (Galapagos). • 



Hah. — Continent of North America, breeding chiefly in higher latitudes, -wintering 

 from our southern border to Brazil.* 



The American Semipalmated or Ring Plover — " Eingneck," as it is 

 familiarly called — is at once distinguished from its European congener, 

 as well as from any species of this country, by the extent of the basal 

 webbing of the toes. The web between the middle and outer toe is 

 larger than in any other, while that between the middle and inner (rudi- 

 mentary in our other species) is as large as that between the outer and 

 middle toes 6f the rest. A glance at these two decided webs is suffi- » 

 cient to determine the species. 



As noted above, its dispersion is more than coextensive with the con- 

 tinent of North America ; for, in winter, although many individuals pass 

 that season on our southern coasts, others penetrate far into South 

 America. In the Middle States it is chiefly a bird of passage, and it is 

 only known to breed regularly t in higher latitudes. Along the coast of 

 B'orth Carolina it appears in great numbers in April, and remains 



* Dr. Sehlegel cites a specimen from Brazil, type of the Prince of Wied's C. brecirostris. 

 t The breeding of a pair on Muskeget Island, off the Massachusetts coast, in June, 

 1866, is noticed by Mr. Samuels, Orn. New England, p. 420. 



