Bill scarcely half the length of the head, orange, with the end black; upper parts pale brownish-grey, lower part of forehead, sides of the face, and all the lower parts white; a black band across the upper part of the forehead, and a ring of the same on 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 on the hind neck; primaries dusky; a white band on the wing, narrow on the outer primaries, and enlarging so as to include the whole of some of the inner secondaries; secondary coverts also tipped with white; tail white, all the feathers, except the lateral, dusky toward the end. Young paler, the feathers of the upper parts edged with faint brown and yellowish; the black bands wanting. _Male_, 7-1/2, 15-1/2. From Texas, along the whole coast, to the Magdeleine Islands, Gulf of St Lawrence, breeding everywhere. Common. Great numbers spend the winter from South Carolina to the mouths of the Mississippi. Ring Plover, Charadrius Hiaticula, Wils. Amer. Orn. v. v. p. 30. Charadrius melodus, Ord., Bonap. Syn. p. 296. Piping Ring Plover, Nutt. Man. v. ii. p. 18. Piping Plover, Charadrius melodus, Aud. Orn. Biog. v. iii. p. 154; v. v. p. 578. GENUS II. APHRIZA, Aud. SURF-BIRD. Bill a little shorter than the head, rather stout, compressed, tapering, straightish, being recurvate in a slight degree; upper mandible with the dorsal line straight, and a little declinate as far as the middle, then concave, and towards the end convex, the nasal grooves extending to near the end, the ridge rather broad and flattened, the tip compressed and bluntish; lower mandible with the angle rather long and narrow, the dorsal line ascending, and slightly convex, the sides grooved for half their length, convex toward the end, the tip narrowed, but blunt. Nostrils subbasal, linear, near the margin. Head rather small, ovate, rounded in front; neck of ordinary length; body rather full. Feet of moderate length, rather stout; tibia bare at the lower part, and reticulated; tarsus roundish, with small angular scales all round, those on the fore part larger; toes four, with numerous scutella, the first very small, and placed higher, the anterior toes free to the base, distinctly margined on both edges, flat beneath, the inner considerably shorter than the outer. Claws rather small, curved, compressed, blunted. Plumage full, soft, rather dense, on the neck and lower parts blended. Wings very long, narrow, and pointed; first primary longest, inner secondaries much elongated. Tail rather short, even, of twelve moderately broad feathers. Name from [Greek: Aphros], foam; and [Greek: xaô], to live. 323. 1. Aphriza Townsendii, Aud. Townsend's Surf-Bird. Plate CCCCXXVIII. Female.