144 BIRDS OF ONTARIO. 



Her mate stanrls motionless, but not unmoved, hard hy, not ventur- 

 ing even to chirp the note of encouivigement and sympathy she loves 

 to hear. 



" Alas ! hope fades, and dies out, leaving only fear ; there is no 

 further concealment — we are almost upon the nest -almost trodden 

 ujjon, she springs up with a piteous cry and flies a little distance, 

 re-alighting, almost beside herself with grief ; for she knows only too 

 well what is to be feared at such a time. If there vvere hope for her 

 that her nest were undiscovered, she might dissimulate, and try to 

 entice us away by those touching deceits which maternal love in- 

 spires. But we are actually bending over her treasures, and decej)tion 

 would be in vain ; her grief is too great to be witnessed unmoved, 

 still less portrayed ; nor can we, deaf to her beseeching, change it to 

 despair. We have seen and admired the home — there is no excuse 

 for making it desolate ; we have not so much as touched one of the 

 precious eggs, and will leave them to her renewed and patient care." 



It is found as a migrant in Ontario and the North-West as far as 

 Alaska. In the latter region it is rare, none having been found on 

 the islands of Behrinic 8ea. 



SuBGEXus PELIDNA Cuvikk. 

 TRINGA ALPINA PACIFICA (CotEs). 



102. Red-backed Sandpiper. (243a) 



Adult ill xiimmer : — Al)ove, chestnut, each feather with a central black field, 

 and most of tiieni whitish-tipped; rump and upper tail coverts, blackish; tail 

 feathers and wing coverts, asliy-gray ; quills, dusky with pale shafts ; second- 

 aries, mostly white; and inner primaries, edged with tlie same; under parts, 

 white; belly, with a liroad jet black area; breast and jugulum, thickly sti-eaked 

 with dusky; l)ill and feet, black. Adult in winter, and younij : — Above, plain 

 ashy-gray, witli ilark shaft-lines, witli oi- without red or black traces; below, 

 white; little or no trace of black on the belly; jugulum, with a few dusky 

 stre.iks and a;; ashj' suffusion. Length, 8-9 inches; wing, 4:\-.l; tail, 2-2.^; 

 l)ill, H-1^, longer than head, compressed at base, ratiiur deju'essed at tJie end; 

 tibia, bare about A ; tarsus, I , or rather less. 



Hab.— North America in general, l)reeding far north, and straggling to 

 •eastern coast of Asia. 



Nest, in the vicinity of hikes and jxnids, a liollow in t hr L^inuinl liiic(l with a 

 few withered leaves. 



Kggs, three or four, clay color, spotted, .stained and l)]()t(-'hed with i:hestnut. 



This is the Black-heart Plover of sportsmen. It is a regular 



