WILSON’S PLOVER. 99 
another of the same sex and a female, all of which were fortu- 
nately obtained. 
This bird very much resembles the ring plover, except in 
the length and colour of the bill, its size, and in wanting the 
yellow eyelids. he males and females of this species differ 
in their markings, but the ring plovers nearly agree. We 
conversed with some sportsmen of Cape May, who asserted that 
they were acquainted with these birds, and that they some- 
times made their appearance in flocks of considerable numbers ; 
others had no knowledge of them. That the species is rare 
we were well convinced, as we had diligently explored the 
shore of a considerable part of Cape May, in the vicinity of 
Great Ege Harbour, many times at different seasons, and had 
never seen them before. How long they remain on our coast, 
and where they winter, we are unable to say. Irom the cir- 
cumstance of the oviduct of the female being greatly enlarged, 
and containing an ege half grown, apparently within a week 
of being ready for exclusion, we concluded that they breed 
there. Their favourite places of resort appear to be the dry 
sand flats on the sea-shore. They utter an agreeable piping 
note. 
This species is seven inches and three-quarters in length, 
and fifteen and a half in extent ; the bill is black, stout, and 
an inch long, the upper mandible projecting considerably over 
the lower ; front, white, passing on each side to the middle of 
the eye above, and bounded by a band of black of equal breadth ; 
lores, black ; eyelids, white ; eye, large and dark; from the 
middle of the eye backwards the stripe of white becomes duller, 
and extends for half an inch ; the crown, hind head, and auri- 
culars, are drab olive ; the chin, throat, and sides of the neck, 
for an inch, pure white, passing quite round the neck, and 
narrowing to a point behind ; the upper breast below is marked 
with a broad band of jet black; the rest of the lower parts, 
pure white; upper parts, pale olive drab; along the edges of 
the auriculars and hind head, the plumage, where it joins the 
white, is stained with raw terra sienna; all the plumage is 
