30 



SANDPIPERS. 



Des Clip Hon. 



BARTEAMIAX SANDPIPER. 



Head and neck streaked with black and tawny; back and wing coverts, buff, 

 barred witli black, primaries dark grayisli brown, the outer one barred with white; 

 throat, breast and sides pale bulfy, the throat streaked, breast and sides with dark 

 arrowhead markings and bars; axillars and lining of wings white, barred with 

 blackish; under tail feathers brownish gray, outer ones varying from buff to white, 

 all more or less barred with black. 



L., 11.50; W., 6.50; T., 1.90. 



Nest, on tJie ground, often in a pasture field. Eggs four, pale clay color, spotted 

 with reddish brown chiefly at the larger end. 



SPOTTED SANDPIPER. 



Adult. Upper parts of grayish olive with a greenish lustre, finely barred with 

 black; white line over the eye; inner tail feathers like back, outer ones with blackish 

 bars. Under parts white, everywhere spotted with black. 



Immature. Upper parts much as in adult but colors and marks less distinct. 

 Under parts pure white unspotted. 



L., 7.50;' W., 4.20; T., 2. 



Nest, on the ground. Eggs, four, clay color, blackish with brownish-black 

 niarkings. 



PLOVER. 



Golden Plover. Formerly vast flocks of this Plover visited Ontario every 

 autumn, resorting to ploughed lands, pasture fields and sandy beaches for food. 

 As they are, while here, purely insectivorous they form an important factor in the 

 reduction of ground insects which abound in such places. 



Unfortunately the birds are in great demand for the table and have been 

 so relentlessly pursued bj^ gunners that their numbers are seriously reduced. 



In the spring Golden Plover pass Northward by way of the Mississippi Valley 

 to their breeding grounds on the "barrens" of the Arctic Circle and so we do not 

 see them, but during the fall flight they still appear on the farms, in some locali- 

 ties, in sufficient numbers to be of material service in ridding the fields of wire- 

 worms, cutworms and other insects exposed by the plough. 



On the prairies of Manitoba they are abundant and are particularly partial 

 ro the burnt over lands. I have seen them in flocks of thousands following tlie 

 fires; they will alight on the ground a few hours after the fire has passed and no 

 doubt fare sumptuously upon the scorched and disabled insects they find among 

 the charred srass roots. 



n 



Killdeer Plover. As soon as the ice is out the killdeer announces its return 

 from the South by vociferously calling its own name as it circles about the water 

 soaked fields, which are its favorite haunts from April to August. 



It is an exceedingly active and graceful species, more apt to run than to fly, 

 if not too closely approached ; but if followed, it rises up and dashes off rapidly 

 on its powerful v/ings, uttering at the same time an alarm call which puts e\ery 

 wild thina: in the neiahbourhood on its guard. 



