AND WHAT LIVED IN THEM. 341 
ers. Wilson’s is characteristic of the South Atlantic coast ; 
it only incidentally, as it were, strays northward as far as 
Massachusetts, and is, consequently, the least generally 
known of the four kinds; but once seen it can never be 
mistaken afterward. It is smaller than the Killdeer, but . 
larger than either the Ring-necked or the Piping Plover, to 
which it is very similar in coloration, if not in the precise 
tint. The under parts of all three are white; the upper 
parts of Wilson’s are much darker than those of the Piping, 
and yet a trifle lighter than those of the Ring Plover. A 
collar of pure black crosses the white of the breast; a cres- 
cent of black occupies the crown between the eyes, sepa- 
rated from the bill by the white forehead; on the nape and 
sides of the head the grayish brown merges into a clear 
warm buff. This, it must be remembered, is only the nuptial 
plumage, and of the male bird ; the latter, at other seasons, 
and the female at all times, have these black bands replaced 
by buffy brown; and this is the plumage in which the bird 
is oftenest described. But the greatest peculiarity remains 
to be noticed. Wilson’s Plover has a very large entirely 
black bill, while both the Ring and the Piping have a very 
small bill, orange yellow at the base, tipped with black. For 
the rest it wants the bright-colored circle around the eyes, 
formed by the margin of the lids, that the other species dis- 
Play during the breeding season. Its eyes are clear brown; 
lts legs livid flesh colored, and longer than those of the 
others ; it is not half-webbed like the Ring Plover—only 
about as much so as the Piping. Its large black bill gives it 
4 singular expression, and undoubtedly corresponds to some 
difference in the nature of its food, if we could only find out 
exactly what. Such is the bird that hurries along the coast 
from the South in April. Upon their arrival they gather in 
Small flocks, of from half a dozen to a score or more, and 
ramble over both the clean sea-beach and the muddy flats in 
Search of food, sometimes straying into the adjoining salt- 
‘Meadows if the grass be short and scanty enough not to 























