242 
WILSON’S PLOVER. 
CHJIEJIDRIUS WILSOJVIUS. 
[Plate LXXIIL— Fig. 5.] 
Peale’s Museum, JVo. 4159, male — 4il60, Jemale* 
OF this neat and prettily marked species I can find no ac- 
count, and have concluded that it has hitherto escaped the eye of 
the naturalist. The bird, of which the figure in the plate is a cor- 
rect resemblance, was shot the thirteenth of May, 1813, on the 
shore of Cape-Island, Newjersey, by my ever-regretted friend ; and 
I have honoured it with his name. It was a male, and was accom- 
panied by another of the same sex, and a female, all of which were 
fortunately obtained. 
This bird very much resembles the Ring Plover, except in 
the length and colour of the bill, its size, and in wanting the yel- 
low eyelids. The males and females of this species differ in their 
markings, but the Ring Plovers nearly agree. We conversed with 
some sportsmen of Cape May, who asserted that they were acquaint- 
ed with these birds, and that they sometimes made their appearance 
in flocks of considerable numbers ; others had no knowledge of 
them. That the species is rare we were well convinced, as we 
had diligently explored the shore of a considerable part of Cape 
May, in the vicinity of Great Egg-harbour, many times at different 
seasons, and had never seen them before. How long they remain 
on our coast, and where they winter, we are unable to say. Fronx 
the circumstance of the oviduct of the female being greatly en- 
larged, and containing an egg half grown, apparently within a 
week of being ready for exclusion, we concluded that they breed 
