154 NESTS AND EGOS Of 



270. BLACK-BELLIED PLOVER. GJiaradrius squatarola (Linn.) Oeog. 

 Dist.— Northern portions of Northern Hemisphere, breeding far north; migrating 

 south in winter; in America to Brazil, New Grenada and the West Indies. 



This handsome bird is known by several different names: Beetle-head, Ox-eye, 

 Whistling Field Plcver, Bull-head Plover and Swiss Plover. It is a species of wide 

 distribution, being nearly cosmopolitan during its migrations, wandering through 

 Southern Asia, Northern and Southern Africa, Australia, the West Indies, Central 

 and South America to Brazil. The eggs have only been taken in the extreme Arctic 

 regions — on both sides of the Ural Mountains in Northern Russia — the banks of the 

 Taimyr in the East and the tundras of the Petchora River in the West. In North 

 America it has been found breeding In various places in the Arctic regions, as on 

 the islands of Franklin Bay on the Arctic coast, in the first part of July and on the 

 Barren Lands. It is also known to breed in Greenland. All the nests found are 

 mere depressions in the ground with a slight lining of grasses and leaves. The eggs 

 are described as being- very similar to those of the Golden Plover, C. apricarius, or 

 those of the Lapwing; pyriform in shape, varying from light huffy-olive to deep 

 olive-buff, thickly and heavily marked with brownish-black or deep black; average 

 size, 2.04x1.43. 



[271.] GOLDEN PLOVEK. Charadrius apricarius Linn. Geog. Dist. — Europe; 

 in winter south into Africa. Greenland. 



The European Golden Plover Is like the American bird, but the linings of the 

 wings are white. In Great Britain during the winter months it is one of the most 

 abundant species; in summer returning to the moorlands of Scotland and Ireland, 

 and northward to the Orkney and Shetland Islands, where it breeds. It is found In 

 Norway, Sweden and in Lapland. Breeds also In the Faroes, in Iceland and in 

 Eastern Greenland. The nest is simply a hollow in the ground, lined with a few 

 grasses. The full complement of eggs is four and seem exceeding large for the size 

 of the bird. The ground color In a large series of these eggs varies considerably — 

 creamy-white, others with a much darker shade of the same, and again of a dark 

 chocolate-brown. On these different ground colors the large, bold spots and con- 

 fluent blotches of brownish-black present quite a varied appearance. Eight eggs in 

 my cabinet from Renfrew, Scotland, measure, 2.02x1.42, 2.08x1.37, 2.10x1.38; 2.11x1.45, 

 1.96x1.40, 2.01x1.37, 2.08x1.40, 2.12x1.43. Average, 2^08x1.42. 



272. AMERICAN GOLDEN PLOVER. Charadrius dominicus Mull. Geog. 

 Dist. — North America at large, breeding in the Arctic regions. 



The Golden or Green Plover breeds in Arctic America east of the coast of Bering 

 Sea and Strait, migrating south in winter nearly throughout the entire America 

 as far south as Patagonia. MacFarlane found It breeding at Franklin's Bay. In 

 spring and fall It is an abundant bird in the United States, and is generally esteemed 

 for the table on account of its large size and the flavor of its flesh. Breeds abundantly 

 on the coasts and Islands of the Arctic Sea, and on the Barren Lands, depositing four 

 eggs in a depression of the soil, which is usually slightly lined with bits of dry grass. 

 Out of one hundred and fourteen nests recorded by Mr. MacFarlane in the Arctic 

 regions, ninety-two contained four eggs each. They vary from pale buffy-brown 

 to dark grayish-buff, spotted and blotched with brownish-black, chiefly at the larger 

 end. The spots are often confluent. The average size Is 1.98x1.37. In the collection 

 of the late Capt. B. F. Goss there is a set of four eggs collected by Mr. MacFarlane 

 on the Barren Grounds near the Anderson River. These are buffy-drab, spotted and 



