search | about the author | about the text
(Charadrius Hiaticula, Linn.—Le petit Pluvier, ą collier, Buff.)
THE length is rather more than seven inches. Bill orange, tipped with black; eyes dark hazel; a black line passes from the bill, underneath each eye, and spreads over the cheeks; above this a line of white extends across the forehead to the eyes; this is bounded above by a black fillet across the head; a gorget of black encircles the neck, very broad before, but growing narrow behind, above which, to the chin, is white; the top of the head is a light brown ash, as are also the back, scapulars, and coverts; the greater coverts are tipped with white; breast and all the under parts white; quills dusky, with an oval white spot about the middle of each feather, which forms, when the wings are closed, a stroke of white down each; the tail dark browns tipped with white, the two outer feathers almost white: legs orange; claws black. In the female, the white on the forehead is less; there is more white on the wings, and the plumage inclines more to ash. They appear in the same plumage in Greenland.*
These birds are common in all the northern countries; they migrate into Britain in the spring, and depart in autumn: they frequent the sea-shores during summer, and run nimbly along the sands, sometimes taking short flights, accompanied with loud twitterings, then alight and run again: if disturbed they fly quite off. They make no nest: the female lays four eggs, of a pale ash, spotted with black, which she deposits on the ground.
Page last modified 10/6/2000.
These pages are best viewed/printed with Internet Explorer, the browser that you're not using right now....
Like this page? Let me know. Hate it? Let me know that too. Click here to offer feedback.
©1999-2002 The edited materials, images, and photographs on this site should not be reproduced without the written permission of Peter Friesen. Contact peter.friesen@plattsburgh.edu for information.
