BIRDS HUNTED FOR FOOD OR SPORT. 357 



WILSON'S PLOVER [Ochthodromus mlsonius). 



Length. — 7 to 8 inches; bill long and large for a Plover, .80 to .90; outer 

 toes half webbed. 



Adult Male. — Above ashy gray or brownish gray; forehead white, white 

 extending over eye; top and sides of head, and nape brownish gray, 

 blackening at upper edge of forehead; a blackish stripe from bill to 

 below eye, not meeting its fellow above base of bill, as white of forehead 

 comes down to bill; below white, with a broad black half collar on fore 

 neck and upper breast, not extending to back of neck; but white of 

 neck so extends; wing quills dark; white wing bar; tail darkening in the 

 middle toward tip, but end and edges whitish; iris dark brown; bill 

 black; legs flesh colored. 



Adult Female. — Like male, but the black marks replaced by dark or brownish 

 gray, often tinged with reddish; the breast band tinged with buff. 



Young. — Similar to adult female, but without black marks on head; a 

 broad band of the color of back across front of neck. 



Field Maries. — The large, long, thick bill and the larger size of the head 

 distinguish it from the smaller Ring-necks. 



Season. — Accidental summer visitor. 



Range. — Southern North America. Breeds from Texas eastward along 

 Gulf coast, and from southeastern Virginia (formerly New Jersey) 

 south to northern Bahamas; winters from southern Lower California, 

 Texas and Florida south to southern Guatemala and probably to West 

 Indies; casual in Nova Scotia and New England, and at San Diego, Cal. 



History. 

 This bird is an accidental visitor from the south. There 

 are two tenable Massachusetts records, namely, a specimen 

 taken at the Gurnet, Plymouth, August 

 22, 1877, by Arthur S. Fiske,i and one 

 taken from a gunner's bag at Ipswich 

 by Dr. C. W. Townsend, May 8, 1904.^ 

 Linsley records it at Stratford, Conn., 

 and Eaton gives eight records for New 

 York. Peabody states in his report on „ ,„ „,., , ^, 



■^ -^ Fig. 19.— Wilson's Plover. 



the Birds of Massachusetts (1839) that 



the species was abundant at Nahant in 1838. "This record," 

 says Dr. C. W. Townsend, "was believed to be on the authority 

 of Dr. Brewer, who later refuted the statement." 



1 Coues, Elliott: Bull. Nuttall Orn. Club, 1882, p. 59. 



^ Townsend, C. W.: Memoirs, Nuttall Orn. Club, No. III., The Birds of Essex County, Mass., 

 1905, p. 199. 



