CHARADRIIDJE — THE PLOVERS — PODASOCYS. 
171 
in some examples, and to a brownish in others. They are thinly marked all over 
with brown, so dark as to be almost black, these markings being in irregular, sharply 
defined spots, small splashes, and fine dots. In some specimens the markings run 
into fine lines, and in these are the smallest, darkest, most numerous, and most 
sharply defined. The markings are usually larger and more thickly set on the larger 
part of the egg. Here and there a few pale obsolete spots are noticed. 
Audubon, who probably observed this species in a more northern locality, gives 
the 1st of J une as the date of the first deposition of its egg ; and this more nearly 
corresponds with my own experience. Visiting Cape Charles, June 4, 1852, I met 
with several nests of this bird, in all of which the eggs were quite fresh. 
Audubon describes the flight as rapid, elegant, and protracted. When flying from 
one sand-beacli or island to another, they pass low over the land or water, and as they 
move give utterance to a clear and soft note. After the breeding-season they form 
into flocks of twenty or thirty. They do not run quite so rapidly as the Piping 
Plover, nor are they so shy. They rarely mingle with any other species, and show 
a decided preference for solitary and unfrequented places. Their food is almost ex- 
clusively of a marine character, and consists of minute shell-fish, worms, and small 
insects. With this food they mingle fine particles of sand. In the fall they become 
very plump, and afford delicious eating. They are said to feed by night as well as by 
day, and their peculiarly large eyes seem to adapt them for nocturnal habits. 
Mr. Moore, who observed the habits of this bird on Sarasota Bay, Florida, states 
that out of fourteen nests all but four had three eggs in a set, and these had two. 
The time of incubation is twenty-four or twenty-five days. The eggs were very rarely 
found placed with the small ends together. Occasionally an interval of one, two, or 
three days would pass after the deposition of an egg before another was laid. Eggs 
were first laid April 8th. ISTo nests were found nearer to one another than twenty 
yards. One was so near the water and so low as to be flooded at an unusually high 
tide. 
Three eggs of this species in my collection, taken at Cape Charles in 1854 (No. 
521), are of an oblong oval shape, rounded at one end and tapering at the other. The 
ground is a deep drab, and the markings are of bistre intensified to blackness, irreg- 
ular in shape, some rounded, others longitudinal, larger than in JE. meloda, and with 
more tendency to coalesce about the larger end. In one, the markings are nearly 
confined to the obtuse end. The measurements are 1.45 by 1.04 inches ; 1.48 by 
1.05 ; and 1.40 by 1.05 inches. The eggs are much more oval in shape than are those 
of 2E. meloda. 
Genus PODASOCYS, Coues. 
Podasocys, Cottes, Pr. Philad. Acad. 1866, 96 (type Charadrius montanus, Towns.) 
Char. Bill rather small and slender (much as in Oxyechus), but longer than the middle toe ; 
tarsus considerably more than twice as long as the middle toe. Tail short, even, scarcely reaching 
to the ends of the folded wings. Plumage exceedingly plain. 
The genus Podasocys is perhaps more nearly related to the Old World Eudromias than to any 
American genus, but may readily be distinguished by the several characters given in the above 
diagnosis, and in the table on p. 129. At least one Old World species, Charadrius veredus, Gould, 
seems to be strictly congeneric. We have carefully compared specimens, and can find no difference 
whatever in the details of structure. The C. asiaticus, Pallas, is said to be a near relation of C. 
veredus, and may also belong to this genus. These two Old World species are characterized by a 
rufous pectoral band in the summer plumage, while the American species (P. montanus ) lias the 
