WILSON’S PLOVER. 643 
WILSON’S PLOVER.—CHARADRIUS WILSONIUS. — Fig. 316. 
Peale’s Museum, No. 4159, male ; 4160, female. 
CHARADRIUS WILSONIUS. — Orv. 
Charadrius Wilsonius, Bonap. Synop. p. 296.— Nomenclature, No. 221. 
Or this neat and prettily-marked species I can find no account, and 
have concluded that it has hitherto escaped the eye of the naturalist. 
The bird from which this description was taken, was shot the 13th 
of May, 1818, on the shore of Cape Island, New Jersey, by my ever- 
regretted friend; and I have honored it with his name.* It was a 
male, and was accompanied by another of the same sex, and a female, 
all of which were fortunately obtained. : 
This bird very much resembles the Ring Plover, except in the length 
and color of the bill, its size, and in wanting the yellow eyelids. The 
males and females of this species differ in their markings, but the 
Ring Plovers nearly agree. We conversed with some sportsmen of 
Cape May, who asserted that they were acquainted with these birds, 
and that they sometimes made their appearance in flocks of consid- 
erable numbers; others had no knowledge of them. That the species 
is rare we were well convinced, as we had diligently explored the 
shore of a considerable part of Cape May, in the vicinity of Great 
Ege Harbor, many times at different seasons, and had never seen them 
before. How long they remain on our coast, and where they winter, 
we are unable to say. From the circumstance of the oviduct of the 
female being greatly enlarged, and containing an egg half grown, ap- 
parently within a week of being ready for exclusion, we concluded 
that they breed there. Their favorite places of resort appear to be the 
drv sand flats on the sea-shore. They utter an agreeable piping note. 
This species is seven inches and three quarters in léngth, and fifteen 
and a half in extent; the bill is black, stout, and an inch long, the 
upper mandible projecting considerably over the lower; front, white. 
passing on each side to the middle of the eye above, and bounded by 
a band of black of equal breadth; lores, black ; eyelids, white; eye, 
large and dark; from the middle of the eye backwards, the stripe of 
white becomes duller, and extends for half an inch; the crown, hind 
head, and auriculars, are drab olive ; the chin, throat, and sides of th 
neck, for an inch, pure white, passing quite round the neck, and na 
rowing to a point behind; the upper breast, below, is marked with 
broad band of jet black ; the rest of the lower parts, pure white; up 
parts, pale olive drab; along the edges of the auriculas and h 
head, the plumage, where it joins the white, is stained with raw terr 
sienna ; all the plumage is darkest in the centre ; the tertials are full 
longer than the primaries, the latter brownish black, the shafts a 
* Bonaparte thus observes in his Nomenclature. —* A very rare species estab- ~ 
lished by the Editor, (Mr. Ord,) and dedicated to Wilson. It is the first homage 
of the kind paid to the memory of this great and lamented self-taught naturalist. 
‘The descriptions of several species in the works of former authors come more or 
less near to it, but after a careful investigation we are satisfied that it is new.” — Ep. 
