44 - BIRDS OF PENNSYLVANIA. 



bird is known in some parts of the country by the name of the Large 

 Whistling Field Plover. It generally makes its first appearance in 

 Pennsylvania late in April ; frequents the countries towards the moun- 

 tains ; seems particularly attached to newly plowed fields, where it 

 forms its nest of a few slight materials, as slightly put together. The 

 female lays four eggs, large for the size of the bird, of a light- olive 

 color, dashed with black, and has frequently two broods in the same 

 season. It is an extremely shy and watchful bird, though clamorous 

 during breeding-time." 



Dr. Ezra Michener, in his catalogue (1863), mentions the Black- 

 bellied Plover as a c; rare summer resident " in Chester county. 



" During winter, or as long as they frequent the seashore, they feed 

 on marine insects, worms and small shell-fish, and when they are in 

 the interior, on grasshoppers and other insects, as well as berries of 

 various kinds." Audubon. 



272. Charadrius dominions . MULL. 



American Golden Plover. 



DESCRIPTION. 



Bill rather short ; legs moderate ; wings long ; no hind toe ; tarsus covered before 

 and behind with small circular or hexagonal scales ; upper parts brownish-black, 

 with numerous small circular and irregular spots of golden-yellow, most numerous 

 on the back and rump, and on the upper tail coverts, assuming the form of trans- 

 verse bands generally ; also with some spots of ashy-white ; entire under parts 

 black, with a brownish or bronzed lustre, under tail coverts mixed or barred with 

 white ; forehead, border of the black of the neck, under tail coverts, and tibiae, 

 white ; axillary feathers cinereous ; quills, dark-brown ; middle portion of the shafts 

 white, frequently extending slightly to the webs, and forming longitudinal stripes 

 on the shorter quills ; tail dark-brown, with numerous irregular bands of ashy- 

 white, and frequently tinged with golden-yellow ; bill black ; legs dark bluish- 

 brown ; iris dark-brown. 



Younger. Under parts dull-ashy, spotted with brownish on the neck and breast, 

 frequently more or less mixed with black ; many spots of the lipper parts dull ashy- 

 white ; other spots, especially on the rump, golden-yellow. 



Total length, about 9 inches ; wing, 7 ; tail, 2| inches. 



Hab. Arctic America, migrating southward through North and South America 

 to Patagonia. 



I have never seen the Golden Plover in this State during the spring 

 migrations, and as an autumnal visitant it is uncertain. For several 

 consecutive seasons none will be observed in certain districts; the 

 following season, however, the birds will be found abundantly in these 

 same districts. The largest flight of Golden Plovers that I ever saw 

 in this section (Chester county) was in the fall of 1880, when flocks 

 of from fifty to one hundred were quite plentiful about the plowed 

 grounds and grass-fields in the neighborhood of West Chester. Mr. 

 Francis Jacobs, of West Chester, informs me that about the year 1860 



