(WINTER PLOVER.)
Vanellus modestus, Burm. La-Plata Reise, ii. p. 502 (Pampas). Eudromias modesta, Scl. et Salv. Nomencl. p. 143; iid. P. Z. S. 1868, p. 144 (Buenos Ayres); Durnford, Ibis, 1877, p. 197 (Buenos Ayres), et 1878, p. 402 (Centr. Patagonia); Barrows, Auk, 1884, p. 313 (Entrerios); Withington, Ibis, 1888, p. 472 (Lomas de Zamora). Charadrius modestus, Seebohm, Plovers, p. 105.
Description.—Above brownish cinereous; frontal band and superciliary stripe white; wings and central tail-feathers blackish; lateral tail-feathers white, the inner ones with an imperfect black subterminal band: beneath, throat cinereous, breast bright chestnut with a black band below; belly white; bill black, base of lower mandible yellowish; feet brown: whole length 7·5 inches, wing 5·3, tail 2·4. Female similar. Young without the rufous chest.
Winter Plover.
(Seebohm’s ‘Plovers,’ p. 105.)
Hab. Antarctic America.
This species in its gait, flight, and general appearance closely resembles the American Golden Plover, but is smaller than that bird, and its sober upper plumage is unrelieved with flecks of golden colour. It breeds in South Patagonia and the Falklands, and migrates north in autumn, appearing on the pampas in April, and being met with there throughout the winter; hence the vernacular name Chorlito de invierno (Little Winter Plover). In its winter dress the upper plumage is greyish drab colour; the breast dark brown; the belly white. It is shy and active in disposition, has a very rapid flight, and is seen in flocks varying greatly in number, from a dozen to two or three hundred individuals. When feeding the birds scatter very widely, running swiftly over the ground in all directions. When on the wing it frequently utters its cry, which has not the mellow tone of the Golden Plover’s note, but it is wonderfully clear and far-reaching, and impresses the listener with its wildness and melancholy.
Their return migration takes place in August.