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BLACK-BELLIED PLOVER. 



■f-CHARADRius Helveticus. Linn. 

 PLATE CCCXV.— Male in Summer, Young, and Adult in Winter. 



This beautiful bird makes its appearance on our southern coasts in the be- 

 ginning of April, as I had many opportunities of observing in the course of 

 my journey along the shores of the Gulf of Mexico, in the spring of 1837. 

 Instead of being congregated in large flocks, as is the case during their south- 

 ward migration in autumn, they are seen coming in small numbers, but at 

 short intervals, so as almost to form a continuous line. They travel chiefly 

 by night, and rest for a great part of the day along the margins of the sea, 

 either reposing on the sands in the sunshine, or searching the beaches for 

 food. After dusk their well-known cries give note of their passage, but by 

 day they remain silent, even when forced to betake themselves to flight. On 

 such occasions they generally wheel over the waters, and not unfrequently 

 return to the spot which they had at first selected. I have traced this species 

 along the whole of our eastern coast, and beyond it to the rugged shores of 

 Labrador, where my party procured a few, on the moss-covered rocks, 

 although we did not then find any nests, and where some young birds were 

 obtained in the beginning of August. 



Individuals of this species spend the summer months in the mountainous 

 parts of Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Connecticut, where they breed. I 

 found their nests near the waters of the Delaware and the Perkioming creek, 

 when I resided in the first of these States, and in the same localities as those 

 of Tot anus Bartramius, as well as in ploughed fields. The nest is merely 

 a slight hollow with a few blades of grass. The eggs are four, an inch and 

 seven and a half eighths in length, an inch and three-eighths in their greatest 

 breadth; their ground-colour yellowish-white, tinged with olivaceous, and 

 pretty generally covered with blotches and dots of light brown and pale pur- 

 ple, the markings being more abundant toward the small end. Their form 

 is similar to that of the egg of the Guillemot, that is, broadly rounded at the 

 large end, then tapering, with the sides nearly straight, and the narrow end 

 rounded. When sitting, these birds will remain until they are almost trod- 

 den upon. On being started, they fly off a few yards, alight running, and 

 use all the artifices employed on such occasions to induce the intruder to set 



