122 



CHAEADRIUS. 



Geographi- 

 cal distribu- 

 tion. 



lores, it is necessary to add another diagnosis : mantle and central upper tail-coverts pale 

 grey. 



It is said to be almost exclusively a sea-shore bird, breeding on the Atlantic coasts of 

 Canada and the more northerly of the States. It is a winter visitor to the coasts of the 

 Southern States, but is said to be a resident in Florida and some of the West Indies. It 

 occasionally appears on the Bermudas (Reid, Zoologist, 1877, p. 475). 



It appears to be nearest allied to C. hiaticula, though it has become considerably 

 differentiated from that species. 



According to the American ornithologists, a colony of Piping-Plovers breed inland in 

 the valley of the Missouri, and are said to have developed a complete black pectoral band ; 

 whilst the coast birds, probably finding it too conspicuous in such an exposed situation, 

 have only acquired it on the sides of the breast. 



CHARADRIUS MELODUS CIRCUMCIN CTUS. 



WESTERN PIPING-PLOVER. 



Diagnosis. Charadrius melodus collari nigro pectorali integro. 



Synonymy. iEgialitis melodus, var. circumcinctus, Coues, Check-list N. Amer. B. p. 133 (1873). 



