Their notes, which are so soft and mellow as nearly to resemble those of the sweetest songster of the forest, reach your ear long before you have espied the Piping Plover. Now and then, these sounds come from perhaps twenty different directions, and you are perplexed, as well as delighted. At the approach of autumn, this species becomes almost mute, the colour of the plumage fades; and it is then very difficult for you to perceive one that may be only a few yards off, until it starts and runs or flies before you. At this season they are less shy than before.
During winter they are generally in good condition, and their flesh is very delicate and savoury, although, on account of their small size, they seldom draw the sportsman after them. Their food consists of marine insects, minute shell-fish, and small sand worms.
Ringed Plover, Charadrius Hiaticula, var. Wils. Amer. Ornith. vol. v. p. 30. pl. 37. fig. 3.
Charadrius melodus, Ch. Bonaparte, Synops. of Birds of the United States, p. 296.
Piping Ringed Plover, Nuttall, Manual, vol. ii. p. 18.
Male in Summer. Plate CCXX. Fig. 1.
Bill half the length of the head, straight, somewhat cylindrical. Upper mandible with the dorsal line straight to the middle, then bulging a little and curving to the tip, which projects beyond that of the lower mandible, the sides flat and sloping at the base, convex towards the end, the edges sharp and overlapping. Nasal groove extended to the middle of the bill, filled with a bare membrane; nostrils basal, linear, in the lower part of the membrane, open, and pervious. Lower mandible with the angle rather short, rounded, the sides at the base sloping outwards and flat, the dorsal line ascending and slightly convex, the edges sharp and inflected.
Head of moderate size, oblong, compressed, the forehead rounded. Eyes large. Neck short. Body rather slender, ovate. Wings long. Feet of moderate length, slender; tibia bare a little above the joint; tarsus rather compressed, covered all round with reticulated angular scales; toes slender; the hind toe wanting; third or middle toe longest, outer toe considerably longer than inner, all scutellate above and marginate, the outer connected with the middle by a short membrane; claws small, compressed, obtuse, the rather blunt inner edge of the middle claw a little dilated.
Plumage soft and blended; the feathers rounded, those on the back somewhat distinct. Wings long and pointed; primary quills tapering, the first longest, the second a little shorter, the rest rapidly graduated; inner secondaries tapering and elongated, so as nearly to equal the longest primaries. Tail of moderate length, slightly rounded, of twelve rather narrow feathers, which taper a little towards their rounded extremities.
Bill orange in its basal half, the rest black. Iris reddish-brown; margins of eyelids orange. Feet brownish-yellow; claws dusky. Forehead, sides of the face, throat, and the whole under parts, pure white. Upper parts pale brownish-grey. A black band across the upper part of the forehead, another surrounds 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 over the hind neck, also very narrow above. Primaries dusky, each with a large white patch on a portion of the outer, and on the greater part of the inner web; secondaries of a lighter brown, white on the inner webs, some of those nearest the body entirely white; the five innermost like the back; most of the quills are more or less tipped with white, the primary and secondary coverts more distinctly so. The tail-feathers may be described as white; the second has a brown spot on the inner web towards the end, the third a larger spot or band on both webs, and the colour enlarges on the rest, until the middle feathers are nearly all dusky brown.