AMERICAN GOLDEN PLOVER 185 



AMERICAN GOLDEN PLOVER 



Charadrius dominicus 



Above brownish black, with numerous irregular spots of yellow; 

 forehead, superciliary stripe, and sides of neck white ; beneath black ; 

 crissum whitish ; axillaries smoky grey ; bill black ; feet dark grey ; 

 length 10.5, wing 7 inches. Female similar. Young, beneath dirty 

 white, with greyish freckles. 



This closely allied representative of the Golden 

 Plover of Europe, from which it is distinguishable 

 mainly by its rather larger size and smoky-grey 

 axillaries, visits South America after its breeding 

 season in the north. 



The American Golden Plover is abundant and 

 well known to every one by its native name Chorlo 

 throughout Southern Argentina. Its wild, clear notes 

 are first heard about the last week in August ; and 

 among the first comers many individuals are seen 

 still wearing the nuptial dress. After their long 

 journey from the Arctic regions they are lean and 

 not worth shooting j two months later they become 

 excessively fat, and are then much appreciated by 

 gourmets. But although so regular in their arrival 

 they do not regularly visit the same localities every 

 season ; the bird may be abundant in a place one 

 year and scarce or absent altogether the next. Dur- 

 ing the spring, from September to December, they 

 prefer open plains with short grass and in the neigh- 

 bourhood of wet or marshy ground ; at the end of 

 December, when the giant thistle (Carduus mariana), 

 which often covers large areas of country, has been 



