Anterior toes connected by webs of considerable extent; bill small, half the length of the head, reddish-orange, tipped with black; upper parts greyish-brown tinged with olive, lower white; forehead, loral space, a band passing below the eye, and a broad ring on the neck, black; a band between the eyes, throat, and a ring on the neck, white; quills dusky, darker towards the end, an elongated white spot on the inner primaries; tips of the secondary coverts, and two or three of the inner secondaries, with the tips of the rest white; tail-feathers brown, darker toward the end, tipped with white, enlarging toward the outer, which is entirely of that colour. Female similar, with the black bands lighter. Young with the upper parts paler, the feathers narrowly margined with dusky and dull yellow, the black bands on the head wanting, that on the fore neck brown.
Male, 71/4, 14.
From Texas to the Arctic Regions, after passing through the interior, as well as along the Atlantic shores. Breeds in Labrador and the Fur Countries. Many spend the winter in the Floridas.
Ring Plover, Tringa Hiaticula, Wils. Amer. Orn. v. vii. p. 65.
Charadrius semipalmatus, Bonap. Syn. p. 296.
American Ring Plover, Charadrius semipalmatus, Swains. & Rich. F. Bor. Amer. v. ii. p. 367.
Semipalmated Ringed Plover, Nutt. Man. v. ii. p. 21.
American Ringed Plover, Charadrius semipalmatus, Aud. Orn. Biog. v. iv. p. 256; v. v. p. 579.
322. 7. Charadrius melodus, Ord. Piping Plover.
Plate CCXX. Male and Female.
Bill scarcely half the length of the head, orange, with the end black; upper parts pale brownish-grey, lower part of forehead, sides of the face, and all the lower parts white; a black band across the upper part of the forehead, and a ring of the same on the lower part of the neck, broad on the sides, but narrow above and below, where it is formed merely by the tips of some of the feathers; above this is a white band on the hind neck; primaries dusky; a white band on the wing, narrow on the outer primaries, and enlarging so as to include the whole of some of the inner secondaries; secondary coverts also tipped with white; tail white, all the feathers, except the lateral, dusky toward the end. Young paler, the feathers of the upper parts edged with faint brown and yellowish; the black bands wanting.
Male, 71/2, 151/2.
From Texas, along the whole coast, to the Magdeleine Islands, Gulf of St Lawrence, breeding everywhere. Common. Great numbers spend the winter from South Carolina to the mouths of the Mississippi.
Ring Plover, Charadrius Hiaticula, Wils. Amer. Orn. v. v. p. 30.
Charadrius melodus, Ord., Bonap. Syn. p. 296.
Piping Ring Plover, Nutt. Man. v. ii. p. 18.
Piping Plover, Charadrius melodus, Aud. Orn. Biog. v. iii. p. 154; v. v. p. 578.