BIRDS OF PENNSYLVANIA. 43 



FAMILY CHARADRIIDJE. PLOVERS. 

 GENUS CHARADRIUS. LINN^US. 

 270. Charadrius squatarola (LINN.). 



Black-bellied Plover. 



DESCRIPTION. 



Bill and legs strong; wings long; a very small rudimentary hind toe; around the 

 bust of the bill to the eyes, neck before and under parts of body, black; upper 

 white, nearly pure and unspotted on the forehead; sides of the neck and rump 

 tinged with ashy, and having irregular transverse bars of brownish-black on the 

 back, scapulars, and wing coverts ; the brownish-black frequently predominating 

 on those parts, and the rump also frequently with transverse bars of the same ; lower 

 part of the abdomen, tibia, and under tail coverts, white ; quills brownish-black, 

 lighter on their inner webs, with a middle portion of their shafts white and a nar- 

 row longitudinal stripe of white frequently on the shorter primaries and seconda- 

 ries ; tail white, with transverse imperfect narrow bands of black ; bill and legs 

 black ; the black color of the under parts generally with a bronzed or coppery lustre, 

 and presenting a scale-like appearance ; the brownish-black of the upper parts with 

 a greenish lustre ; iris black. 



Yv tint /(>/- and winter plumage. Entire upper parts dark-brown, with circular and 

 irregular small spots of white, and frequently of yellow, most numerous on the 

 wing coverts ; upper tail coverts white ; under parts white, with short longitudinal 

 lines and spots dark brownish-cinereous on the neck and breast ; quills brownish- 

 black, with large longitudinal spots of white on their inner webs, and also on the 

 outer webs of the shorter primaries. 



Yonnrj. Upper parts lighter, and with the white spots more irregular or scarcely 

 assuming a circular shape ; narrow lines on the neck and breast more numerous. 



Total length, about 11| ; wings, 7k ; tail, 3 inches. 



Hab. Nearly cosmopolitan, but chiefly in the Northern Hemisphere, breeding 

 far northward, and migrating south in winter; in America to the West Indies, 

 Brazil and New Grenada. 



This bird, according to my observation, occurs in Pennsylvania only 

 as a rare migrant : when found is mostly seen in autumn. In former 

 years, it seems that these birds were found as natives. If this species 

 now breeds in Pennsylvania it certainly is confined to the mountain- 

 ous regions. Audubon, speaking of its breeding, says: "Individuals 

 of this species spend the summer months in the mountainous parts of 

 Maryland, Pennsylvania and Connecticut, where they breed. I have 

 found their nests near the waters of the Delaware and the Perkio- 

 miug creek * * in the same localities as those of the Field Plover 

 (B. longicauda) , as well as in plowed 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-color yellowish-white, tinged with 

 olivaceous, and pretty generally covered with blotches and dots of 

 light-brown and pale-purple, the markings being more abundant to- 

 ward the small end." 



Wilson, writing of the species in this Commonwealth, says: "This 



