THE BEETLEHEAD PLOVER 77 
shades prevailing in the centres and the white 
mostly on the tips and edges of the feathers. 
The upper tail coverts white with but little 
of the dark shading; forehead, crown and down 
the side of the neck snow white, as are also the 
linings of the wings, under tail coverts, tibiae 
and vent. The tail is barred with black and 
white. Sides of the head as far back as the 
eye, side of the neck, breast and remaining un- 
der parts, primaries, axillary plumes, bill, legs 
and feet are black. Male and female are 
marked alike though the lady may have brown- 
ish tones in the blacks. Comparatively few 
gunners are acquainted with him in this plum- 
age, knowing him better in his fall dress of 
mottled black and white, when the breast mark- 
ing is somewhat dingier and does not, as a 
rule, show the solid area of black, nor are any 
of the contrasts of color so marked, yet he may 
be recognized at once by his large size and the 
hind toe, the mark of the species. 
The bird at the right in the plate is in the 
plumage of the young of the year—the winter 
dress of the adult bird also, though the mature 
bird generally retains some trace of the black 
breast in the dusky markings below. In this 
