420 ORNITHOLOGY AND OOLOGY. 



The nest is nothing but a hollow in the sand scraped by 

 the female bird : it sometimes has a slight lining of pieces 

 of grass or seaweed ; but usually the eggs are deposited on 

 the bare sand. These are four in number, abruptly pyri- 

 form in shape, and a beautiful light creamy-buff in color, 

 with thinly scattered spots of black and brown, and some- 

 times a few obscure spots of lilac. They average smaller in 

 size than either of the preceding, varying from 1.30 by 1 inch 

 to 1.20 by .95 inch in dimensions. They do not resemble 

 the others, being much more finely marked ; and their small 

 ends are more rounded. 



The breeding habits and general characteristics of this 

 so much resemble those of the preceding species that the 

 same remarks will apply to both. 



SQUATAROLA, Cuvier. 



Squatardla, Cotter, Regne Anim., I. (1817). (Type Tringa sqmtarola, Linn./ 

 A rudimentary hind toe ; legs reticulated, -with elongated hexagons anteriorly, of 



which there are five or six in a transverse row; fewer behind; first primary longest; 



tail slightly rounded. 



SQTJATAROLA HELVETICA. — Cuvier. 



The Black-bellied Plover. 



Tringa helvetica, Linnaeus. Syst Nat., I. (1766) 250. 

 Squatarola helvetica. Cuvier, R. A., (1817). 



Charadrias helveticus, Audubon. Om. Biog., IV. (1838) 280. lb., Birds Amer., 

 V. (1742) 199. 



Charadrius apricarius, Wilson. Am. Orn., Vli. (1813) 41. 



Description. 



Bill and legs strong ; wings long ; a very small rudimentary hind toe ; around the 

 base of the bill to the eyes, neck before and under parts of body, black; upper 

 white, nearly pure and unspotted on the forehead ; sides of the neck and rump tinged 

 with ashy, and having irregular transverse bars of brownish-black on the back, 

 scapulars, and wing coverts ; the brownish-black frequently predominating on those 

 parts, and the rump also frequently with transverse bars of the same; lower part of 

 the abdomen, tibia, and under tail coverts, white ; quills brownish-black, lighter on 

 their inner webs, with a middle portion of their shafts white, and a narrow longi- 

 tudinal stripe of white frequently on the shorter primaries and secondaries; tail 

 white, with transverse imperfect narrow bands of black ; hill and legs black ; the 

 black color of the under parts generally with a bronzed or coppery lustre, and pre- 



