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U. S. P. R. R EXP. AND SURVEYS — ZOOLOGY GENERAL REPORT. 
Family CHARADRIDAE. 
This family is divided by Bonaparte into the three sub-families Oedicneminae, Charadrinae, 
and Cursorinae ; but as the first and last are not represented in North America, there is no 
occasion to present them here. They are readily distinguished from the Charadrinae by well 
marked characters. 
The characters of the Charadrinae are sufficiently well expressed in the diagnosis of the 
family already given. The wings when folded reach beyond the tail. The head is very large, 
the neck short, and nearly as thick as the head. The bill in size and shape has, in some 
instances, quite a close resemblance to that of the doves. The legs, as a general rule, have no 
hind toe, except in Squatarola. The middle and outer toes are connected at the base by a 
membrane. 
CHARADRIUS, Linnaeus. 
Charadrius, Linn. Syst. Nat. 1735. Typo C. pluvicdis, L. 
Ch. — Plumage yellowish gray, spotted. Tail transversely banded. No collar on neck. Tarsi and lower thighs uniformly 
reticulated. Color of legs bluish greer. 
CHARADRIUS VIRGINICUS, Borck. 
Golden Plover; Bull-head. 
Charadrius pluvialis, Wilson, Am. Orn. VII, 1813, 71 ; pi. lix. — Sw. P. Bor. Am. II, 1831, 623.— Nuttall, Man. 
II, 1834, 16.— Aud. Orn. Biog. Ill, 1835, 623. (Not of Linnaeus.) 
Charadrius virginicus, " Borckhadsen and Bechstein." Licht. Verz. Doubl. 1823, No. 729. 
Charadrius virginicus, " Borkh. Mus. Berolin." — Meten, Nova Acta, K. L. C. Akad. XVI, Suppl. 1834, 106; pi. xviii. 
Charadrius marmoratus, Wagler, Syst. Av. 1827, No. 42.— Aud. Orn. Biog.V, 1839, 575 ; pi. 300.— Ib. Syn. 222 — 
Ib. Birds Am. V, 1842, 203 ; pi. 316. 
? Charadrius pectoralis', Vieill. Nouv. Diet. XXVII, 1819, 145. 
Charadrius xanthocheilus, Jard. 111. Orn. II, pi. Ixxxv. 
Figures.— Wilson, Am. Orn. VII, pi. 59, fig. 5.— Aud. B. of Am. pi. 300, Oct. ed. V, pi. 316.— Meten, Nova Acta, 
XVI, Supp. pi. 18. 
Sp. Ch. — Bill rather short, legs moderate, wings long, no hind toe, tarsus covered before and behind with small circular or 
hexagonal scales. Upper pirts 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 transverse 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 witli 
white. Forehead, border of the black of the neck, under tail coverts and tibise, 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. Younger. — Under parts dull ashy, spotted with brownish on the neck and breast, frequently more 
or less mixed with black ; many spots of the upper parts dull ashy white ; other spots, especially on the rump, golden yellow. 
Total length about 9i inches ; wing, 7 ; tail, 2k inches. 
Hab. All of North America, South America, Northern Asia, Europe. 
This bird, well known throughout the United States as the Bull-head, Field Plover, or Golden 
Plover, appears to be one of the species that inhabit, at various seasons, the entire continent 
of America ; rearing its young in the north, and wandering at other seasons to the extreme 
