136 Birds of Colorado 



Habits. — This Plover is chiefly found about the dry, 

 grassy prairies and mesas and also in sage-brush country, 

 and is quite independent of the presence of water. It is 

 a rather solitary bird, though after the breeding season 

 may be met with in small parties of ten or twelve ; it 

 subsists chiefly on insects and especially locusts and grass- 

 hoppers, of which it must destroy enormous numbers. 

 It has a whistle-like note, reminding one of a Curlew 

 according to Dille, and when disturbed or molested in 

 the breeding season, has the power of shamming bemg 

 crippled or wounded, and at the same time shrieks as 

 if in great agony. The nest is a depression in the ground, 

 sometimes lined with a few stray grasses, sometimes 

 without lining ; it is situated on the dry prairie as a rule. 

 The eggs, nearly always lour, are not so pointed as those 

 of most Plovers ; they are olive-drab, spotted and dotted 

 especially at the larger end with shades of brown, but 

 not blotched. They measure 1'45 x riO. Dille gives 

 May 29th as the average date, for fresh eggs in the 

 plains ; it is perhaps a little later in the mountain parks, 

 as Allen noticed newly-hatched young on July 28th in 

 South Park. 



Family APHRIZID^. 



This family was first formed by Coues to contain the 

 Surf-birds and Turnstones. They have a stout, rather 

 short, bill, a scutellated tarsus and four toes ; the 

 anterior ones without webs. 



Genus ARENARIA. 



Bill moderate, conical and tajDering, culmen about equal to tarsus ; 

 no dertrum or swelling towards the tips of the mandibles ; tail of twelve 

 feathers slightly rounded ; tarsus short, about equal to the middle toe 

 and claw, with a few transverse scutes in front, otherwise reticulated ; 

 hind toe present ; no webs. 



