PIPING PLOVER. 459 
Charadrius semipalmatus, BONAPARTE, Obs., Wils., 1825, No. 219. 
Aegialitis semipalmatus, BONAPARTE, Comp. List, 1838, 45. 
Aigialitis semipalmatus, COUES, Birds, N. W., 1874, 453. 
Above dark ashy-brown with an clivaceous shade ; below white; very broad coronal 
and pectoral black bars in the adult in spring, in fall and in the young the coronal bar 
hardly evident, the pectoral grayish-brown; edges of eyelids bright orange; bill 
moderately short and stout, orange or yellow, black tipped; legs yellowish; toes con- 
spicuously semipalmate. Length, abont 7 inches; wing, 42; tail, about 24 rounded. 
Having taken fall specimens with the coronal bar and pectoral band as distinct and 
black as in spring birds, I am of the opinion that the above description errs in regard to 
adults in fall. 
Habitat, North America, breeding chiefly in high latitudes, wintering from our south- 
ern border to Brazil. . 
Not common migrant in spring, more abundant in the fall. I have 
seen the Semipalmated Plover in spring but on one occasion, May, 1880, 
when a pair, in company with Kildeers, lingered for several days about 
the wet places in an old brick-yard near this city. They are common 
and regular in the fall, however, arriving the last week of July or first of 
August, frequenting gravelly and muddy shores of streams in small! flocks 
of from eight to twenty birds, or less, single birds frequently associating 
with Leastand Semipalmated Sandpipers. Their habits resemble those of 
the Kildeer, and their note is a soft mellow whistle, 
The eggs of this bird resemble those of the Kildeer, except in size, 
they measure akout 1.25 by 93. 
It is not unlikely the breeding range of this species will be found to 
extend southward farthsr than has been heretofore supposed. I$ is re- 
corded as breeding in Massachussetts, and Mr. Nelson has found both young 
and old near Chicago early in July, under circumstances making it almost 
certain that they nested in that vicinity. 
AGIALITIS MELODA (Ord.) Bp. 
Piping Plover; Ringneck, 
Charadrius melodus, KIRTLAND, Am. Journ. Sci. and Arts, x1, 1@41, 24. 
Aegialitis melodus, WHEATON, Chio Agric. Rep. for 1860, 1861, 368, 377; Reprint, 10, 19. 
Aigialitis melodus, WHEATON, Food of Birds, etc., Ohio Agric. Rep. for 1874, 1875, 572 ; 
Reprint, 12.—LaNGpon, Cat. Birds of Cin., 1877, 14; Journ. Cin. Soc. Nat. Hist., i, 
1878, 116; Reprint, 7. 
gialitis meloda, LANGDON, Revised List, Journ. Cin. Soc. Nat. Hist., i, 1879, 182; Re- 
print, 16. . 
Piping Plover, KiRTLAND, Am. Journ. Sci. and Arts, xiii, 1852, 218. 
Charadrius melodus, ORD, ed. Wils. Am, Orn., v, 1812, 30. 
Ligialitis melodus, BONAPARTE, Comp. List, 1838, 45. 
Aigialitis meloda, Couus, Birds N. W., 1874, 455. 
Above, very pale ashy-brown ; the black bands narrow, often imperfect; bill colored 
as in the last, but shorter and stumpy ; edges of eyelids colored ; no evident web between 
