CHARADEIIDiE, PLOVER. GEN. 192, 193. 245 



stumpy ; edges of e3'elicls colored ; no evident Avel) between inner and middle 

 toes, and only a slight (me between middle and outer ; size of the last, or 

 rather less. Eastern and Middle North America; abundant on the Atlantic 

 coast, breeding northward. WiLS., v, 30, pi. 37, f. 3; Nutt., ii, 18; 



AuD., V, 223, pi. 321; Cass, in Bn., 695 melodus. 



,1.1 O ^ 8nowy Plover. With a general resemblance to the last, this species is 

 rather darker (not so dark as in semipalmatiis) , and the hind head is tinged 

 with fulvous, as in ivilsonius; it may be at once recognized l)y its entirely 

 black bill, slender, about f long; legs dark; several lateral tail feathers 

 entirely white ; 6^-7 long ; wing 4-4-| ; tail 2 or less. California coast, 

 where I found it abundant in winter: Ibis, 1866, 274. It belongs to a 

 different sub-group from the foregoing, and appears to be ideutical with the 

 common Kentish plover of Europe, A. cantiana; but I have had no 

 opportunity of a direct comparison. Cass, in Bd., 696. . . cantiana. 

 ** Tarsus about twice as long as the middle toe. {Podasocys.) 

 j__^ 2' Mountain Plover. Bill black, slender, an inch long ; middle toe and claw 

 the same; tarsus If; tibire bare over ^ ; about 9 ; wing 6 ; tail 3, nearly 

 square. Above brown, all the feathers skirted with rusty, which also shades 

 the breast; other under parts, forehead, and short line over eye, white; a 

 coronal (and pectoral ?) black band in mature plumage ; quills and tail 

 blackish, former with white shafts, latter tipped with whitish. Middle 

 Kansas to the Pacific, common on dry plains and even in deserts ; inde- 

 pendent of water; feeds on insects, especiallj'' grasshoppers. I found it in 

 New Mexico in June, and abundantly in California in November. The 

 eggs, hitherto undescribed, measure 1.40 to 1.50 in the greater axis, by 1.10 

 in the transverse ; color an olive drab with a slight brown shade, thickly 

 marked, especially toward the larger end, with small sharp speckling and 

 fine dotting of blackish, dark brown and neutral tint. (Described from two 

 specimens in the Smithsonian collection, taken by Hayden, July, 1859, in 

 Nebraska). Oharadrius monlanus Aud., v, 213, pi. 318 ; JEgialitis montanus 

 Cass, in Bd., 693; Podasocys montanus Coues, Proc. Phila. Acad. 1866, 

 96 ; Elliot, pi. 39 asiaticus var. montanus. 



193. Genus APHRIZA Audubon. 

 jjCt ^ Surf Bird. Dark ashy-brown, streaked with white on the head and neck, 

 and in summer with chestnut and black on the back ; upper tail coverts 

 white; under parts white, often ashy-shaded, and variously marked with 

 blackish; tail black and white; bases and shafts of primaries, most of the 

 secondaries, and tips of greater coverts, white; bill black, flesh-colored at 

 base below ; legs dusky-greenish ; 9-10 ; wing about 7 ; tail 3 or less ; 

 bill 1 ; tarsus 1^, reticulate; hind toe present; front toes cleft to the base. 

 Varies greatly in plumage with age and season. A remarkable bird, appar- 

 ently a plover, connecting this family with the next, and also related to 

 the sandpipers. Extensively dispersed on the coasts and islands of the Pacific. 

 Cass, in Bd., 698 ; AphrizatownsendiiAx!T>.,\,22%,-p\.?,22. . vieoata. 



