340 GAME BIRDS, WILD-FOWL AND SHORE BIRDS. 



GOLDEN PLOVER (Charadrius dominicus dominicus). 



Common or local names : Green Plover; Green-head; Green-back; Toad-head; Field 

 Bird; Pasture Bird; Brass-back; Pale-breast; Pale-belly; Muddy-breast; Frost 

 Bird; Three Toes. 



Adult (Spring), Young (Fall). 



Length. — About 10.50 inches. 



Adult in Breeding Plumage. — (Almost never seen in Massachusetts.) Gen- 

 erally black above, spangled with bright yellow and white; tail dark 

 grayish brown, barred with white, tinged with yellow; linings of wings 

 ashy; a wide white stripe from forehead passes over eyes down side of 

 head and neck, broadening on the side of breast; black below from chin 

 to tail. 



Adult in Late Summer and Fall. — As seen here, upper parts as in spring, but 

 duller, little white, and the yellow is golden or greenish; below white, 

 mottled with grayish brown; linings of the wings grayish ash, as in spring. 



Young. — Dusky above, mottled with dull whitish spots, becoming yellow 

 on the rump; below ashy, especially on lower neck and breast; generally 

 greener in tone than the adult. 



Field Marks. — Young birds may be distinguished from the young of the 

 Black-bellied Plover (Beetle-head) by the absence of the whitish tail, 

 rump or upper tail coverts and the absence of the white in the outspread 

 wings. This species bobs its head frequently, the Black-bellied Plover 

 rarely. 

 Notes. — A plaintive too-lee-e; song, a marvellously harmonious succession 

 of notes (heard only on their breeding grounds) (Nelson). A bright 

 whistle, gueep-quee-lee-leep; a note like the syllable queedle; a chuckle 

 (Townsend). A coodle (Mackay). 



