SPECIES 3. CHARADRIUS WILSONIUS. 
WILSON’S PLOVER. 
[Plate LXXIIL— Fig. 5.] 
Peale’s Museum, JVo. 4159, male — 4 1 60,/«'?na/f’. 
Op this neat and prettily marked species I can find no account, 
and have concluded that it has hitherto escaped the eye of the 
naturalist. The bird, of which the figure in the plate is a correct 
resemblance, was shot the thirteenth of May, 1813, on the 
shore of Cape-Island, New Jersey, by my ever-regretted friend; 
and I have honoured it with his name. It was a male, and was 
accompanied 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 
yellow eyelids. The males and females of this species differ in 
their markings, but the Ring Plovers nearly agree. We con- 
versed with some sportsmen of Cape May, who asserted that 
they were acquainted 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 Avere 
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 diflerent seasons, and had never seen 
them before. How long they remain on our coast, and where 
they Avinter, we are unable to say. From the circumstance of 
the oviduct of the female being greatly enlarged, and containing 
an egg half grown, apparently within a week of being ready for 
exclusion, we concluded that they breed there. Their favourite 
places of resort appear to be the dry sand flats on the seashore. 
They utter an agreeable piping note; and run swiftly. 
This species is eight inches in length, and fifteen and a half 
