200 
WILSON’S PLOVER. 
WILSON’S PLOVER CHARADRIUS WILSONIUS. 
Plate LXXIII. Fig. 5. 
PeaWs Museum, No. 4159, male. — 4160, female. 
CHARADRIUS WILSONIUS.— Oko. 
Charadrius Wllsonius, Bonap, Synop. p. 296. — Nomenclature, No. 221. 
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 from which this description was 
taken, was shot the 13th 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 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 con- 
versed with some sportsmen of Cape May, who asserted that 
they were acquainted with these birds, and that they some- 
times 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. From the cir- 
* Bonaparte thus observes in his — “A very rare species esta- 
blished by the Editor (Mr Ord), and dedicated to Wilson. It is the first ho- 
mage of the kind jiaid to the memory of this great and lamented self-taught natu- 
ralist. The descriptions of several species in the works of former authors come 
more or less near to it, but after a careful investigation Ave are satisfied that it is 
new.” — Ed. 
