216 MICHIGAN BIRD LIFE. 



tail grayish brown; primaries blackish on tlie outer webs and at tips, but with white shafts; 

 outer pair of tail-feathers entirely white, next two or three pairs white at base and tip, 

 with a blackish sub-terminal bar, middle feathers like tlic back, but blackening at tip. Bill 

 black at tip, orange at base; legs yellowish. Female: Similar, but most of the black 

 areas duller or browner. In winter plumage all the black is replaced by grayish brown, 

 but this is darker than the remaining areas, so that the pattern of coloration is similar. 

 Length 6.50 to 7.50 inches; wing 4.65 to 5; culmen .48 to .55; tarsus .95 to 1.05. 



118. Piping Plover. iEgialitis meloda (On/). (277) 



Synonyms: Pale Ring-neck, White Ring-neck, Belted Pi{)ing Plover, Western Piping 

 Plover. — Charadrius melodus, Ord., 1824, Bonap., Nutt., Aud.^ — Aegialitis melodus, Cass., 

 Baird, Coues, Ridgw. — Acgialites melodus circumcinctus, Ridgw., 1881. 



With a close general resemblance to the Ring-necked Plover, this bird 

 may be known at once by the pale brownish gray tint of the upper parts 

 and the black or dark collar which sometimes completely encircles the neck 

 (var. circumcincta) , but usually is broken in front (typical meloda). 



Distribution. — Eastern North America. Breeds locally from southern 

 Saskatchewan, southern Ontario, Magdalen Islands and Nova Scotia 

 south to Central Nebraska, northwestern Indiana, Lake Erie, New Jersey 

 and Virginia. 



This little plover is found everywhere along the shores of the Great Lakes 

 during summer, and probably breeds wherever conditions are suitable. 



In 1874 Ridgway described a variety of this species which he named 

 circumcincta, in which the black collar was continuous across the chest 

 instead of being interrupted there by white as in the common form. This 

 new variety was said to be ''chiefly restricted to the Missouri River region," 

 but was found later to occur more or less regularly throughout the Great 

 Lake Region and less often in the eastern states. The form was recognized 

 by the American Ornithologists' Union, under the name ^giahtis meloda 

 circumcincta, the Belted Piping Plover, and has figured as a distinct sub- 

 species for the last thirty years. Recently, however, sufficient evidence 

 has accumulated to make it clear that the two supposed forms intergrade 

 completely and occupy practically the same territory, so that the belted 

 form is no longer considered a distinct sub-species and the last check-list 

 of the American Ornithologists' Union (1910) recognizes only the Piping 

 Plover, as above. 



The typical form {meloda) is common along the north shore of Lake 

 Erie, and has been found breeding in some numbers at Point Pelee, near 

 the western end of that lake (Birds of Ontario, 1894, 165). According to 

 Covert it is fairly common during migrations in Monroe county, and nests 

 at the Monroe ]\Iarshes (probably along the beach of Lake Erie). The 

 writer found two specimens on Little Traverse Bay, Emmet county, early in 

 July, 1904, and a female, evidently with eggs or young, was found on Big 

 Beaver Island, Lake Michigan, a few days later. We have records of the so- 

 called Belted Piping Plover (supported by specimens) from Ottawa county, 

 April 23 and 24, 1897, and April 25, 1896, and there are records for the Indi- 

 ana shore of Lake Michigan, and for the Illinois and Wisconsin shores of the 

 same lake. We have also a typical specimen taken at Port Sanilac on the 

 Huron shore, April 15, 1897, by W. A. Oldfield. According to Nelson "It is 

 a very common summer resident along the lake shore [of Lake Michigan in 

 Illinois], breeding on the flat pebbly beach between the sand dunes and 

 shore. Arrives the middle of April and proceeds at once to breeding. Some 

 thirty pairs were breeding along the beach at this place (Waukegan) April 



