338 BLACK-BELLIED PLOVER. 



cularly attached to newly-ploughed 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 colour 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. The young are 

 without the black colour on the breast and belly until the 

 second year, and the colours of the plumage above are like- 

 wise imperfect till then. They feed on worms, grubs, winged 

 insects, and various kinds of berries, particularly those usually 

 called dew-berries, and are at such times considered exqui- 

 site eating. About the beginning of September they descend 

 with their young to the sea-coast, and associate with the 

 numerous multitudes then returning from their breeding 

 places in the north. At this season they abound on the 

 plains of Long Island. They have a loud whistling note ; 

 often fly at a great height ; and are called by many gunners 

 along the coast the black-bellied killdeer. The young of the 

 first year have considerable resemblance to those of the golden 

 plover ; but may be easily distinguished from this last by the 

 largeness of their head and bill, and in being at least two 

 inches more in length. The greater number of those which 

 I have examined have the rudiments of a hind toe ; but the 

 character and manners of the plover are so conspicuous in the 

 bird, as to determine, at the first glance, the tribe it belongs 

 to. They continue about the sea-coast until early in Nov- 

 ember, when they move off to the south. 



This same bird, Mr Pennant informs us, inhabits all the 

 north of Europe, Iceland, Greenland, and Hudson's Bay, and 

 all the arctic part of Siberia. It is said that at Hudson's Bay 

 it is called the Hawk's-eye, on account of its brilliancy. It 

 appears, says the same author, in Greenland, in the spring, 

 about the southern lakes, and feeds on worms and berries of 

 the heath. 



This species is twelve inches long, and twenty-four inches 

 in extent ; the bill is thick, deeply grooved on the upper 



