172 NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 
Famity CHARADRIIDA®.—TueE PLovers. (Page 143.) 
Genera. 
(West on ground in meadow or near water, the nest itself often a mere depres- 
sion in ground. Eggs 2-4, more or less pyriform-ovate, light olive or buffy, more 
or less spotted or speckled with brown or blackish.) 
a, Wing more than 8.00; plumage of upper parts partly metallic; head crested. 
Vanellus. (Page 172.) 
a, Wing less than 8.00; plumage without metallic tints; head not crested. 
b. Plumage of upper parts much speckled or spotted; lower parts uniform 
black medially in summer dress.................. Charadrius. (Page 172.) 
b%. Plumage of upper parts plain; lower parts always white medially. 
fEgialitis. (Page 174.) 
Genus VANELLUS Brisson. (Page 172, pl. LV., fig. 1.) 
Species. 
Summer adult: Fore-part and top of head, chin, throat, and breast, uniform 
blue-black ; side of head and neck white, becoming grayish on hind-neck ; upper 
parts chiefly metallic bottle-green, bluish and coppery purple, the first predomi- 
nating ; upper tail-coverts rufous; basal half and tip of tail white, the rest dull black; 
belly, ete., white, becoming pale rufous on lower tail-coverts. Winter plumage : Simi- 
lar to summer plumage, but anterior part of lores, together with chin and throat, 
white, the white of side of neck, etc., tinged with buff. Downy young: Top and sides 
of head and entire upper parts dull light brownish gray, mottled with black, the 
shoulders tinged with light rusty and the rump with large spots of deep black; 
hind-neck, chin, throat, and entire lower parts except chest, white, the first tinged 
with light ashy; chest dusky grayish. Length about 13.00, wing 8.50-9.00, culmen 
1.00, tarsus 2.00, middle toe 1.00-1.10. Eggs 1.85 x 1.33, varying from dull light 
grayish buff to deep olive-buff, spotted with brownish black. Hab. Northern por- 
tions of eastern hemisphere; occasional in Greenland; accidental in Alaska and on 
Long Wsland! tice. cscssccecsceacvetdcviiceactizenagacesss 269. V. vanellus (Liny.). Lapwing. 
Genus CHARADRIUS Linnavs. (Page 172, pl. LIV.,, figs. 1, 2.) 
Species. 
Common Cuaracters.—Summer adults with most of lower parts and sides of 
head (up to and including lores and ear-coverts) uniform black ; forehead, sides of 
crown, and sides of neck and chest, adjoining the black, plain white; upper parts 
speckled or spotted with blackish and whitish or yellowish. Winter adults without 
any black on lower parts, which are whitish, the chest, sides of neck and head, etc., 
streaked with brownish gray; the upper parts spotted with grayish and dusky 
(sometimes mixed with yellowish). Young similar to winter adult, but above 
speckled with yellowish. 
