65 



RING PLOVER. 



TRINGA HIATICULA. 

 [Plate LIX.— Fig. 3.] 



Avti, Zool, p. 485, JVo. 401.— petit Pluvier a collier. Buff. VIIIj 90. — .Bewick, I. 526.— JE*eaie's 



Museum, JVo. 4150. 



IN a preceding part of this work^ a bird by this name has 

 been figured and described, under the supposition that it was the 

 Ring Plover, then in its summer dress ; but which, notwithstand- 

 ing its great resemblance to the present, I now suspect to be a dif- 

 ferent species. Fearful of perpetuating error, and anxious to re- 

 tract, where this may inadvertently have been the case, I shall sub^ 

 mit to the consideration of the reader the reasons on which my 

 present suspicions are founded* 



The present species, or true Ring Plover, and also the former^, 

 or light-colored bird, both arrive on the sea coast of New Jersey 

 late in April. The present kind continues to be seen in flocks 

 until late in May, when they disappear on their way farther north ; 

 the light-colored bird remains during the summer, forms its nest 

 in the sand, and generally produces two brood in the season. 

 Early in September the present species returns in flocks as before; 

 soon after this, the light-colored kind go off to the south, but the 

 other remain a full month later. European writers inform us, 

 that the Ring Plover has a sharp twittering note, and this account 

 agrees exactly with that of the present; the light-colored species, 

 on the contrary, has a peculiarly soft and musical note, similar to 

 the tone of a German flute, which it utters while running along 



* See voL V, plate xxxTii, %. 3, 



VOL. VII 



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