SHORE-BIRD LOITERERS 



247 



upon one with a shore of shell-sand, having seen from the 

 vessel that behind the fringe of mangroves along the outer 

 beach was a little lake. An occasional flutter of white wings 

 made us all the more curious. The sight which greeted us as 

 we peered through the low mangrove bushes was one I would 



NEST AND EGGS OF WILSON'S PLOVER 



go far again to see. On a projecting point of the sandy shore 

 was a colony of about fifty pairs of the Least Tern. The 

 females were incubating, and the males preening their feathers 

 on the sand near by or along the margin, their pearl and 

 white plumage showing off prettily against the pulverized 

 shells and the lapping water. Scattered here and there were 

 little gray Wilson's Plovers quietly feeding along the shore 

 or resting on the sand. Out in the shallow water, conspicuous 



