74 
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PIPING PLOVER. 
CHJUULDRIUS MELODUS. 
Plate XXIV. Fig. 3. 
See Wilson’s American Ornithology, Ringed Plover , Charadrim Hiatacula, Vol. V. 
p. 30, pi. 37, fig. 3, for a reduced representation of the adult in spring dress, and the 
history. 
Charadrim melodus, Ord, in the reprint of Wilson's Orn. VII. p. 71, and Gen. Ind. of 
the water Birds , Suppl. Orn. Wils. (IX.) p. ccxii. Nob. Obs. Wils. Orn. sp. 220. 
Id. Cat. and Syn. Birds U. S. sp. 217. Id. Speech. Comp. sp. Philad. 
Charadrim Okenii, Wagler, Syst. Av. I, Charad. sp. 24. 
Ringed Plover var. B. Lath. Gen. Hist. IX. p. 327. sp. 12 var. B. 
* * 4 *; *!- * fyi % 
Philadelphia Museum. 
fu? • *..’•*.* « 
The well merited elevation of thi bird to the rank of a species 
fully vindicates our predecessor from the unjust censure of 
Temminck, who thought his figure of it intended for the 
Charadrius hiaticula. The same censure is repeated and aggra¬ 
vated by Mr. Sabine, who probably thought it intended for the C. 
semipalmatus. But if the figure is free from the supposed fault of 
incorrectness, its extremely diminished size, which renders it 
almost useless, requires that the bird should now appear in this 
work in its full dimensions. 
Not only is the true C. hiaticula of Europe not found on the 
American continent, but the birds hitherto mistaken for it 
constitute two very distinct and exclusively American species, 
notwithstanding the awkward quotations in the new edition of 
Cuvier’s Regne Animal, which, in this instance, as in several 
others, is as far behind its age as the former was in advance of it. 
