NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 131 



America at large, breeding anywhere in its range. The nest is placed 

 on the ground, usually in the vicinity of a stream or pond, and often 

 on an elevated spot in the grass or in a furrowed field. It is merely a 

 slight depression of the ground. The bird frequents both high and low 

 grounds, pastures and fallow fields, as well as borders of streams. 



The eggs are drab or clay-color, thickly spotted and blotched with 

 blackish-brown and umber ; small end, quite pointed, as is usually the 

 case with all eggs of birds of this order ; the eggs are generally four in 

 number, measuring from 1.50 to 1.60 long by about i.io broad. 



274. .ffigialitis semipalmata BONAP. [517.] 



Semipalmated Plover. 



Hab. North America in general; breeding in Arctic and sub-Arctic districts; south in winter 

 throughout tropical America as far as Brazil and Peru. 



The Semipalmated Ring Plover is abundant and generally diffused 

 throughout the whole of North America. In the United States it 

 occurs only in the migrations, but it probably breeds occasionally in 

 some of the Northern States. Both eggs and young have been taken 

 near Chicago, 111., in July. It has been found in the summer months 

 in the Saskatchewan and Mackenzie River regions, and in those of 

 Hudson's Bay, in Greenland and throughout various portions of Arctic 

 America. It has been found breeding in the latter part of June on the 

 Arctic coast, and in the Anderson River regions. Breeds on the islands 

 of the Alaskan coast, and at the mouth of the Yukon. Audubon found 

 it nesting in Labrador. The nest is a mere depression in the ground, 

 with a lining of dry grasses or leaves. The bird's general habits are 

 like those of the Killdeer. 



The eggs vary from greenish to yellowish-ash, spotted, blotched 

 and dotted with varying shades of brown ; pyriform ; scarcely distin- 

 guishable from those of the Killdeer, excepting in size ; length 1.20 to 

 1.40 by .90 to .95 in breadth; two to four in number. 



275. jEgialitis hiaticula (LINN). [518.] 



Ring Plover. 



Hab. Northern portion of Eastern Hemisphere, and eastern portion of Arctic America. 



The well known Ringed Dotterel, or Ringed Plover of Europe, 

 holds its place as a North American species on the grounds of its 

 breeding abundantly throughout Greenland and on the shores of Cum- 

 berland Gulf. It is particularly common in Great Britain, where it 

 frequents the banks of rivers, inlets and bays, and the shores of the 

 sea. Common in Norway, and it has been met with in Lapland. 



The eggs of this species are deposited in a slight depression in the 

 sand, in broken shells or shingles above high-water mark. Four eggs 

 are laid and their ground color is of a pale buff or cream color ; they 



