CHARADRIIDJE — THE PLOVERS — iEGIALITIS. 
161 
Sp. Char. About the size of EE. semvpalmata ; bill short, strong. Adult male: Forehead 
ring around the back of the neck, and entire under parts, white ; a band of black in front above 
the band of white ; band encircling the neck before and behind, but usually interrupted in the 
middle of the breast, black, immediately below the ring of white on the neck behind. Head above 
j‘E. meloda. 
and upper parts of body light brownish cinereous ; rump and upper tail-coverts lighter, and often 
nearly white ; quills dark brown, with a large portion of their inner webs and shafts white ; shorter 
primaries with a large portion of their outer webs white ; tail at base white, and with the outer 
feathers white ; middle feathers with a wide sub-terminal band of brownish black, and tipped with 
white. Bill orange at base, tipped with black ; legs orange yellow. Female : Similar to the male, 
but with the dark colors lighter and less in extent. Young: No black band in front ; collar 
around the back of the neck ashy brown. 
Total length, about 7 inches ; wing, 4.50 ; tail, 2 inches. 
Aside from the geographical variations noted on p. 1 52, the individual discrepancies in the 
plumage of this species are cpiite considerable, involving chiefly the extent and intensity of the 
AS. meloda circumcincta. 
black areas. It is quite the rule among specimens from the Atlantic States for the pectoral band 
to be either decidedly narrower centrally, or altogether interrupted in the middle of the breast ; 
while in examples from the interior States, especially from the Missouri River region, the pectoral 
band is, in a large majority of specimens, absolutely continuous, and nearly or quite as wide as in 
EE. semipalmata. 
The common Piping Plover of the Middle and New England States exhibits but 
very few peculiarities of habits and manners differing from the rest of this group. 
It is, if anything, a little more shy and distrustful of man, and is less readily 
VOL. i. — 21 
