BIRDS OF MASSACHUSETTS. 361 



The Semipalmated Plover, Charadrius semipalmatus, is 

 not an uncommon bird, and is seen on our coast in the spring, 

 from the last of April till the end of May ; then it goes to high 

 northern latitudes to spend the breeding season, at which time, 

 Dr. Richardson assures us, they abound in the arctic regions. 

 As soon as the young have acquired strength for the journey, 

 they set out on their return, and early in August they again 

 make their appearance on our shores. They feed on land as 

 well as marine insects, though they are generally seen playing 

 before the waves on the beach. They are found in the mar- 

 kets of our cities at the close of summer, and are well esteemed 

 for food. 



The Black-bellied Plover, Charadrius Helvcticas, called 

 sometimes the large Whistling Field Plover, because of its at- 

 tachment to newly-ploughed fields, where it finds the insects 

 and berries which compose its food, is found over a large extent 

 of country, having breeding places from Pennsylvania to the 

 most distant northern regions known to civilized man. It often 

 chooses the field for the place of its nest, which is carelessly 

 made of dry grass, and in which are laid four eggs, of cream 

 color, dashed with black. Nuttall says, that their nests are of 

 rare occurrence in New England, but does not say whether he 

 had ever found them. In the summer they feed on various 

 berries, and are valued as food. At the close of August, they 

 go down with their young to the borders of the sea, where 

 they live on such materials as the shores afford them. They 

 are called the beetle-headed plovers, and sometimes the kildeer, 

 from their cry, in which they resemble that restless bird, as 

 well as in their never-resting suspicion. Toward the last of 

 September they collect in great flocks, preparatory to their mi- 

 gration, but linger with us for a considerable time before 

 they go. 



The Turnstone, Strepsilus interpres, derives its popular 

 name from the habit of turning over stones with the bill and 

 sometimes the breast, to find insects and worms beneath them, 

 46 



