254 BIRDS OF NEW ENGLAND AND EASTERN NEW YORK 



sandpipers by their shorter bills. All but the Black- 

 bellied Plover have a habit of bobbing the head as they 

 stand. 



Piping Plover. ^Egialitis meloda 

 7.00. Bill .50 



'Ad. $. — Forehead, throat, and ring around neck white ; for- 

 ward part of crown black ; a partial ring, broken in the middle 

 of the breast, black ; rest of upper parts light brownish-gray ; 

 tip of tail black ; breast and belly white ; base of bill orange, 

 tip black ; feet yellow. Ad. 9 • — Similar, but the black bars 

 tending toward brownish, and less distinct. 



Eggs, laid in a hollow on little pebbles on the open sand, 

 creamy white, speckled or spotted with dark brown. 



The Piping Plover is one of the few waders that breed 

 on the coasts of New York and New England ; it may there- 

 fore be looked for in June and early July, when there is 

 only the Spotted Sandpiper from which it must be distin- 

 guished. It also occurs as a reg- 

 ular but not common migrant 

 in April and May, and again 

 in August and September. It 

 breeds on the sand-beaches of 

 Long Island, Martha's Vine- 

 yard, and the adjoining islands, 

 and sparingly on Cape Cod, at 

 Ipswich, Mass., and on the 

 Maine coast. 



Its sweet but mournful call 

 Fig. 74. Piping Plover consists of two notes, ^z^ee', 



the first very short and about half an interval above the 

 second. The bird frequents the upper part of the beach, 

 where its pale colors harmonize so perfectly with the dry 

 sand that it is often invisible till it starts to fly. It bobs, 

 like its relative the Semipalmated Plover, but may be dis- 



