PLOVERS 



255 



tlieir voyage without pause, is not known. Autumn 

 gales, however, diverted many of them from their 

 course and they landed on the Bermuda Islands 

 as well as along the coast of the northern States. 

 Tens of thousands thus came to the islands and 

 beaches of New England where, according to 

 Forbush, they were mercilessly shot for food. 

 Because at this season they were always ex- 

 tremely fat they were known generally as 

 " Dough-birds." 



After reaching South America the Curlews 

 proceeded southward, spreading out over the 

 continent as far as Patagonia. Here they passed 

 the winter. In March and April the great flights 

 would appear on the shores of those States bor- 

 dering on the Gulf of ^Mexico. Passing a gant- 

 let of gun-fire the survivors journeyed up the 

 Mississippi valley to northern Canada, and so 

 on to their breeding grounds. It will thus be 

 seen that their migratiiins were among the most 

 extensive of any undertaken by our North 

 American birds. 



Since 1900 perhaps a dozen specimens have 

 come to the attention of ornithologists — all 

 dead birds — and it is of course ))0ssible that a 

 few mav ^till exist. But the great flocks are gone 

 and the species is doomed. 



Like all the Curlews this bird was an inhab- 

 itant of regions where water abounds. Along 

 the coast they fed in the beach-pools and marshes 

 but not generally on the sandy beaches so com- 

 monly frequented by Sandpipers and some of the 

 Plovers. 



In the spring and summer their great joy was 

 to wade in the ponds, sloughs, and shallow, 

 grassy lakes of the interior. They were of no 

 special economic \a.\ue to the farming interests 

 of the country, for they did not feed on insects 

 injurious to crops, but they were of much value 

 as a food product, and with proper laws enforced 

 for their conservation the great flocks might 

 have been spared indefinitely for the pleasure 

 and benefit of mankind. 



T. GiLHKKT Pe.\KSON. 



PLOVERS 



Order Liniicolcc ; family Cliaradriidcc 



HE Plovers comprise the family ( liaradriidcc of the order of Shore Birds and 

 include about seventy-five species of comparatively small birds, which, dttring 

 the breeding season, have a cosmospolitan distribution. The birds generally 

 are migratory aiid they are likely to cover great distances in their journeys 

 between their summer and winter homes, this being particularly true of the 

 Golden Plover. Eight species occur m North America. Externally the 

 Plovers differ markedly from the Snipes in having a comparatively short and 

 pigeon-like bill, which is hardened and somew^hat swollen at the end, and is 

 ill-adapted for probing in mud or soft sand, and they must, of necessity, feed 

 from the surface. For this reason, also. Plovers are often found feeding in 

 the dry uplands not frequented by the Snipe. Furthermore, in the Plovers the 

 1 )ody is relatively shorter and plumper than in the vSnipes, and the neck is much shorter and 

 thicker. Plovers' w'ings are long and pointed, and, except in a few species, when folded 

 extend to or beyond the end of the tail, which is comparatively short, generally rounded, and 

 consists of twelve feathers. Their ])lumage varies greatly, and iri some species shows con- 

 siderable seasonal changes. 



They nest on the ground and lay usually four eggs, which are marked or spotted with 

 dark colors in a manner that makes them hard to detect among the pebbles by which they 

 are likely to be surrounded. But one brood is raised in a season. The yoting w-hen hatched 

 are covered with soft buff or grayish down, spotted with blackish. Whether or not the 

 chicks know that these colors are protective, it is certain that they lie very still among the 

 pebbles and grass when an intruder approaches, and therefore may easily be overlooked. 

 Plovers' voices usually are mellow, piping whistles which have singular carrying power. 

 \"nl.. I — 18 



