PLOVERS, ETC.: SNOWY PLOVER 
247 
Droll, individual birds from the time they come out of the shell in 
black velvet with red sealing wax bill, bluish frontal patch, and red skull 
cap bordered with sparse yellow and black hairs, they are so easily 
watched that whoever will may study their life history and make, per¬ 
chance, many an interesting discovery. 
Additional Literature.—Bailey, F. M., Condor, XXI, 4-6, 108-110, 159- 
162, 1919 (young).— Bent, A. C., U. S. Nat. Mus. Bull. 135, 358-371, 1926. 
Bryant, H. C., Condor, XVI, 225, 1914 (nests). 
SHORE-BIRDS, GULLS, AUKS, etc.: Order Charadriiformes 
The Shore-Birds, Gulls, etc., are mainly gregarious, nest mostly on 
the ground, and the sexes are alike in plumage. Many of the Shore- 
Birds perform extensive migrations, probably surpassing all others in 
the development of the migratory instinct, several of our species breed¬ 
ing on the Arctic islands and wintering on the plains of Patagonia (Eaton, 
1909). 
References.—Brewster, William, Bird Migration, Memoir Nuttall Orn. 
Club, No. 1, 1886; Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., Harvard College, LXVI, 225-268, 
1925.— Chapman, F. M., The Travels of Birds, 1916.— Cooke, W. W., Yearbook 
U. S. Dept. Agr. Separate 642, 1914 (Shore-Birds); Bull. 35, Biol. Surv., U. S. Dept. 
Agr., 1910 (Shore-Bird distribution and migration); Bull. 185, U. S. Dept. Agr., 
1915 (migration); Bull. 292, U. S. Dept. Agr. 1915.— Cory, C. B., How to Know the 
Shore-Birds, 1897.— Dwight, Jonathan, The Gulls of the World, Bull. Amer. Mus. 
Nat. Hist., LII, art. 3, 63-401, 1925; Auk, XVII, 368-385, 1900 (molt of Shore- 
Birds).— Job, H. K, Wild Wings, 203-255, 1905.— McAtee, W. L., Circ. 79, Biol. 
Surv., U. S. Dept. Agr., 1911 (Shore-Birds).— Shufeldt, R. W., Condor, XV, 
138-151, 1913 (eggs).— Taverner, P. A., Birds of Western Canada, 127-128, 1926 
(protection by Migratory Birds Convention Act).— Thomson, A. L., Problems of 
Bird Migration, 1926.— Wetmore, Alexander, U. S. Dept. Agr. Technical Bull. 
26, 1927 (our Shore-Birds in S. America). 
PLOVERS, etc.: Family Charadriidae 
PLOVERS: Subfamily Charadriinae 
The Plovers are characterized by large round heads, short thick 
necks, rather pigeon-shaped medium sized bills, long, pointed wings, 
middle and outer toes webbed at base and hind toe generally lacking. 
As usual with birds having conspicuous black and white “ruptive” 
coloration, they frequent not only shores but darker ground, and they 
also display the distinctive patterns of their wing linings by holding 
their'wings raised a few moments on alighting. Strong winged, the 
Plovers perform extensive migrations, though not in such large flocks 
as the Sandpipers. 
SNOWY PLOVER: Charadrius nivosus (Cassin) 
Description. — Length: 6.2-7 inches, wing 4.2-4.3, bill about .6 (slender), 
tarsus .9-1. Hind toe absent. Chest band reduced to a short bar each side of chest, 
Adults in breeding plumage: Upperparts pale buffy gray, with black bars above 
