70 
WADING BIRDS. 
of the gunners along the coast the name of the Black-bellied 
Killdeer. From a supposed similarity, probably in the note, it 
is remarkable that the inhabitants of the Faroe Islands de- 
nominate the Oyster-catcher kielder, and in Iceland the male 
is named tilldiir, and the female tilldra. Indeed, the compass 
of voice in a great portion of this tribe of birds, more or less 
related to the Plovers, is remarkable for its similarity. The 
Betel-headed Plovers usually linger round the sea-coast in the 
Middle States till the commencement of November, when, 
the frosts beginning sensibly to diminish their prospect of sub- 
sistence, they instinctively move off towards the South, proceed- 
ing probably, at this time, under the shade of twilight, as 
moving flocks are nowhere, as far as I can learn, seen by day. 
.^bout the middle of September in the marshes of Chelsea 
(Mass.), contiguous to the beach, they sometimes assemble at 
day-break in flocks of more than a thousand individuals 
together, and soon after disperse themselves in companies to 
feed, on the shores, upon small shell-fish and marine insects. 
This crowding instinct takes place a short time previous to 
their general migration southward. 
Wilson originated the error that this species breeds in the 
mountains of Pennsylvania, and Audubon, Richardson, Nuttall, 
and others have helped to perpetuate it. There is no good evidence 
obtainable that the bird has nested south of the Hudson Bay dis- 
trict, but numerous observers have met with it in summer on the 
Barren Ground region and along the shores of the Arctic Ocean. 
It has been found in winter in the West Indies and South Amer- 
ica On its spring migration it goes north by various routes, — 
across the interior as well as along the coast-line, — but on the 
Atlantic shores it is more abundant in autumn than in spring 
I did not meet with any examples during spring on the Bay of 
Fundy or the New Brunswick shores of ‘the Gulf of St. Lawrence, 
but Mr. Boardman informs me that the species occurs sparingly at 
the mouth of the St. Croix River. Stearns reported it common in 
southern Labrador, but Turner did not find it at Ungava. 
jjoTE. — Occasionally an example of the Lapwing {Vanellus 
vanellus) — a European species — visits Greenland. 
