262 



BIRDS OF AMERICA 



Distribution. — North and South America ; breeds 

 from Melville Island, Wellington Channel, and Cumber- 

 land Sound to the valley of the upper Yukon, southern 

 Mackenzie, southern Keewatin, and Gulf of St. Law- 



rence ; winters froin southern Lower California, Louisi- 

 ana, and South Carolina to Patagonia, Chile, and 

 the Galapagos ; casual in Siberia, Greenland, and the 

 Rermudas. 



The Semipalmated Plover is the common 

 Plover of the Atlantic seaboard, for during the 

 migrations there are probably more of them to be 

 seen than of all the other Plovers combined, but 

 even at that they are far from being numerous as 

 they once were. In my boyhood I have seen 

 flocks of hundreds, while now it is a matter of 

 dozens. Yet we are fortunate in having them 

 still with us to illustrate the Plover type on our 



bound in response. When they take to wing these 

 notes are speeded U|) and reiterated as the flock 

 circles out over the water and dashes past. They 

 are with us in May, and again in August and 

 September, being more numerous in the latter 

 period, reinforced by the new generation. 

 Through August we see the adults, with their 

 distinct black breast-bands, but it is not till Sep- 

 tember, usually, that the grayer young begin to 



Drawing by R. I. Brasher 



SEMIPALMATED PLOVER ( ] nat. size) 

 A graceful little Plover and skillful in the art of concealment 



beaches and flats — birds with heads propor- 

 tionately large, with robin-like actions in racing 

 olT for a few yards, then standing still to gaze 

 and meditate, though with the body more hori- 

 zontal than the Robin, then stooping to conquer 

 the small marine life at their feet. 



They frequent both beaches and flats, prefer- 

 ably the latter, and sometimes pools on the marsh. 

 Here they scatter out in feeding but bunch to- 

 gether in flight. From the flats, before we dis- 

 cover them, comes that singularly attractive 

 characteristic call which always makes my pulses 



ajjpear, illustrating one of the strange phases of 

 liird habits, that in many cases the young make 

 the long untried journey southward after most of 

 the parents have gone on before. They are found 

 in the interior, as well as on the coast, but mostly 

 along the larger bodies of water, or on marshes 

 where there are shallow sloughs and mud-flats. 



The breeding-grounds are mostly in the Far 

 North, even beyond the Arctic Circle. The south- 

 ernmost point where they are known to breed is 

 the Gulf of St. Lawrence. There I have studied 

 them, on the Magdalen Islands, finding a scattered 



