AMERICAN GOLDEN PLOVER, 
57 
AMF^RICAN GOLDEN PLOVER. 
COMMON PLOVER. WHISTLING PLOVER. PALE-BELLY. 
GREEN PLOVER. 
Charadrius DOMINICUS. 
Char. No hind toe. Above, spotted with black and lemon yellow; 
forehead and line over the eyes white ; tail grayish brown with imperfect 
bars of ashy white; beneath, black. In winter plumage the black o£ the 
lower parts is replaced by mottled gray and white, the throat and breast 
spotted with dusky. 
Nest. At the upper edge of a sea-beach ; a mere degression in the soil 
lined with a few bits of grass. 
Eggs. 3-4 ( usually 4) ; of sharply pointed pyriform shape ; dark brown- 
ish buff, sometimes tinged with drab or grayish white; spotted and 
blotched with various shades of brown ; 2.00 X 1.40. 
The Common Plover is, according to the season of the year, 
met with in almost every part of the world, particularly in Asia 
and Europe, from Kamtschatka to China, as well as in the 
South Sea Islands ; and on the present continent from Arctic 
America, where it breeds, to the Falkland Islands ; it is also 
seen in the interior at least as far as Missouri. It breeds in 
Siberia and in the northern parts of Great Britain, but not in 
France or Italy, where it is also common. At such times it 
selects the high and secluded mountains, sheltered by the heath, 
where, without much attempt at a nest, the female deposits 
about four, or sometimes five, eggs of a pale-olive color, marked 
with blackish spots. 
'I'hese Plovers arrive on the coast of the Middle and North- 
ern States in spring and early autumn. Near to Nantasket and 
Chelsea Beach they are seen on their return from their inclem- 
ent natal regions in the north by the close of August, and the 
young remain in the vicinity till the middle of October, or 
later, according to the state of the weather. They live princi- 
pally upon land insects, or the larvie and worms they meet 
with in the saline marshes, and appear very fond of grasshop- 
pers. About the time of their departure they are, early in the 
morning, seen sometimes assembled by thousands ; but they all 
