In Greek mythology, Aegiale was the wife of Diomedes. While he was away fighting at the Trojan War, she was unfaithful to him and he left her upon his return.
About the size of a snipe, it is mostly sooty-brown above, but showing a bright buff on the tail coverts, and in flight a white bar on the wings; beneath it is pure white except two pectoral bands of deep fl.
It is one of the finest as well as the largest of the group commonly known as ringed plovers or ring dotterels,' forming the genus Aegialitis of Boie.
Mostly wintering in the south or only on the sea-shore of the more northern states, in spring it spreads widely over the interior, breeding on the newly ploughed lands or on open grass-fields.
Around the great lakes scattered flocks are seen in the migrations chiefly; but it is on the secluded Atlantic beaches, comfortably distant from seaside resorts, that we find the piping plover most abundant.
The Belted Piping Plover (AEgialitis meloda circumcincta), a western representative of the preceding, differs from it only in having the fl links on the breast joined to form a band.
The Mountain Plover (AEgialitis montana), a distinctly prairie bird, rather than a mountaineer, has grayish brown upper parts, the feathers margined with chestnut; the white under parts grow yellowish on breast, but without belt or patches; the front of the crown and the cheeks fl.
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