Black-Bellied Plover (Squatarola squatarola) 



Range : Breeds on the Arctic coast from Point Barrow to Boothia and Mel- 

 ville Peninsula; also on the Arctic coast of Russia and Siberia; winters from 

 California, Louisiana, and North Carolina to Brazil and Peru. 



The "beetle-head" bears a rather close superficial resemblance to the golden 

 plover, with which it sometimes associates, but the sportsman with quarry in hand 

 can instantly distinguish them by a glance at the toes. If there are three toes in 

 front and one behind, his bird is the beetle-head. The golden plover has only 

 three toes. Like the golden plover the beetle-head breeds in Arctic lands, but 

 unlike that bird it uses practically the same fly lines summer and fall. It inhabits 

 both the Atlantic and Pacific coasts and also a wide strip of the interior, including 

 the Mississippi Valley. The black-belly was formerly very abundant over most 

 of its range, but has sufifered a marked decrease in the past fifty years. It is pos- 

 sible that the abolition of spring shooting in a few of the Atlantic states has had 

 an effect in retarding its decrease. It is to be hoped that this is true and that, as 

 all shooting of this species is prohibited until 1918, the beetle-head will make sub- 

 stantial gains. If sportsmen and others interested can be convinced that protec- 

 tive measures are effective, and that under them some of our more important game 

 birds are materially increasing, it may be possible to secure their co-operation in a 

 really effective enforcement of protective regulations, not only in favor of the 

 present species, but of shorebirds generally. 



The House-Wren 



Alexander Wilson 



This well-known and familiar bird arrives in Pennsylvania about the middle 

 of April. About the 8th or 10th of May it begins to build its nest, sometimes 

 in the wooden cornice under the eaves or in a hollow cherry-tree, but most com- 

 monly in small boxes fixed on the top of a pole in or near the garden. It is 

 partial to such situations because of the great numbers of caterpillars and other 

 larvae which may be found in the vicinity. 



If all these nesting conveniences are wanting, the wren will even put up with 

 an old hat, nailed on the weather-boards, with a small hole for entrance. If 

 even this be denied him he will find some hole, corner or crevice about the house, 

 barn, or stable rather than abandon the dwellings of man. 



The twigs with which the outward parts of the nest are constructed are 

 short and crooked that they may the better hook in with one another. The hole 

 or entrance is so much shut up to prevent the intrusion of snakes or cats that it 

 appears almost impossible that the body of the bird could get in. On the inside 



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