Tringa squatarola Linnæus, Syst. Nat. ed. 10 (1758), 1, 149.
Squatarola helvetica Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1896), 24,
182; Hand-List (1899), 1, 152; Oates, Cat. Birds' Eggs (1902),
2, 17; McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 22.
Bantayan (McGregor); Bohol (McGregor); Cebu (McGregor); Cuyo
(Meyer); Luzon (Sanches); Mindanao (Everett); Negros (Layard);
Palawan (Whitehead); Siquijor (Steere Exp., Bourns & Worcester,
Celestino). Subarctic regions, south in winter to Australia,
Cape of Good Hope, and South America.
"Adult male in breeding plumage.--Above mottled with bars of black
and ashy white, the feathers being black, notched with white and
broadly tipped with the latter; scapulars and wing-coverts like
back, the greater series edged externally with white, inner ones
distinctly notched with white; alula and primary-coverts black,
the former slightly, the latter more plainly, tipped with white;
quills black, the shaft white about the middle; first two primaries
white for the greater portion of the inner web, decreasing in extent
on the succeeding quills, which also have the median portion of
the shaft white, but after the fourth this white shaft accompanied
by an increasing amount of white on outer web; secondaries brown,
with white edges and tips, bases of inner webs also white; innermost
secondaries resembling the back, and notched with ashy brown and
blackish; lower back and rump dusky brown, with white spots and
fringes to the feathers; upper tail-coverts and tail white, barred
with black or blackish brown, the bars decreasing toward the outer
feathers, where they are broken up into spots on the outer web;
crown like the back, but more minutely mottled and more hoary white;
forehead and a broad eyebrow white, extending down sides of neck,
and forming a large patch on sides of upper breast; lores, sides of
face, ear-coverts, and under surface black, excepting abdomen and
under tail-coverts, which are pure white; thighs white, streaked
with black; under wing-coverts white; axillars black, with slightly
indicated fringes of brown at tips; quills below dusky, with white
on inner webs; lower primary-coverts pale ashy. 'Bill, legs, feet,
and claws black; iris dark hazel.' (Seebohm.) Length, 267; culmen,
33; wing, 206; tail, 74; tarsus, 46.
"Adult female in breeding plumage.--Above, not so strongly mottled
with black as the male, and consequently rather browner, especially
on the head; black of face and under parts not so much developed,
these parts being mottled with irregular black markings. Length, 279;
culmen, 33; wing, 203; tail, 74; tarsus, 46.
"Adult in winter plumage.--Differs from the summer plumage chiefly
in wanting the black on face and breast, but, from the absence of
black mottling on the back, the whole upper surface appears more
uniform, being ashy brown with narrow whitish edgings to the feathers,
before which is a blackish subterminal shade; lores white, but base
of forehead like crown; a line of white above and below eye, but
the white eyebrow scarcely visible above the ear-coverts, which are
dingy blackish; sides of face white, streaked with dusky; throat and
under parts pure white, lower throat and fore neck pale ashy brown,
slightly mottled with dusky markings; under wing-coverts white,
except the lower primary-coverts, which are dusky ashy; axillars black.
"Young.--Like the winter plumage of the adults, and always to be
distinguished from the golden plover by the black axillars, though it
is spangled with golden buff on the upper surface, as is the latter
species." (Sharpe.)
The gray plover, known as the black-bellied plover in the United
States, is found along the seashore in small numbers during the winter
months. As seen in the Philippines it is usually in the gray plumage
but as with its very near relative, the golden plover, individuals
having the breast mottled with black are not uncommon.
Genus CHARADRIUS Linnæus, 1758.
This genus differs from Squatarola in being smaller and in lacking
the hind-toe.