CHARADRIIN^. APHRIZA. 
225 
neck, broad on the sides, but narrow above and below, where it is 
formed merely by the tips of some of the feathers ; above this is a 
white band on the hind neck ; primaries dusky ; a white band on the 
wing, narrow on the outer primaries, and enlarging so as to include 
the whole ,of some of the inner secondaries ; secondary coverts also 
tipped with white ; tail white, all the feathers, except the lateral, 
dusky toward the end. Young paler, the feathers of the upper parts 
edged with faint brown and yellowish ; the black bands wanting. 
Mahy Ti. 15|, 
From Texas, along the whole coast, to the Magdeleine Islands, 
Gulf of St Lawrence, breeding everywhere. Common. Great num- 
bers spend the winter from South Carolina to the mouths of |he Mis- 
sissippi, 
Ring Plover, Charadrius Hiaticula, Wiis. Amer. Orn. v. v, p. 30, 
Charadrius melodus, Ord., Bonap. Syn. p. 296. 
Piping Ring Plover, Nutt. Man. v. ii. p. 18. 
Piping Plover, Charadrius melodus, Auo, Orn, Biog, v. iii, p. 154 ; v. v. p. 578. 
GENUS II. APHRIZA, Aud, SURF-BIRD. 
Bill a little shorter than the head, rather stout, compress- 
ed, tapering, straightish, being recurvate in a slight degree ; 
upper mandible with the dorsal line straight, and a little 
decimate as far as the middle, then concave, and towards 
the end convex, the nasal grooves extending to near the 
end, the ridge rather broad and flattened, the tip compress- 
ed and bluntish ; lower mandible with the angle rather long 
and narrow, the dorsal line ascending, and slightly convex, 
the sides grooved for half their length, convex toward the 
end, the tip narrowed, but blunt. Nostrils subbasal, linear, 
near the margin. Head rather small, ovate, rounded in 
front; neck of ordinary length ; body rather full. Feet of 
moderate length, rather stout ; tibia bare at the lower part, 
and reticulated ; tarsus roundish, with small angular scales 
all round, those on the fore part larger ; toes four, with nu- 
merous scutella, the first very small, and placed higher, the 
anterior toes free to the base, distinctly margined on both 
edges, flat beneath, the inner considerably shorter than the 
outer. Claws rather small, cimved, compressed, blunted. 
Plumage full, soft, rather dense, on the neck and lower 
