70 FEATHERED GAME 
THE BEETLEHEAD PLOVER. BLACK- 
BREASTED PLOVER. 
(Squatarola squatarola.) 
The Beetlehead! What visions of blue 
water, barren sandbars, seaweed-covered 
ledges, and lonely, wind-swept, desolate islands 
this name brings up to the shore gunner’s 
mind! What pictures of splendid birds flash-. 
ing over the water or scaling down in swift 
career to the sandy margins where the sea is 
ever breaking, and the wary visitors feeding, 
ready at a sign of danger to take wing and 
away. Cautious and vigilant to the last degree 
and very keen of sight, they are the most intelli- 
gent of their family and among those least often 
captured by the New England gunner in spite 
of their comparatively large numbers. 
Among the best known of the shorebird fam- 
ily is this large and strikingly appareled bird, 
called also (for, because of its wide dispersion 
this species is distinguished by many titles) the 
Black-breasted Plover, Whistling Field Plover, 
Ox-Eye, Swiss Plover, Bull Head and Chuckle- 
head, these last two from his somewhat heavy 
