PLOVERS 



26.- 



colony on a long sniidflat, borderintj a lagoon, 

 that stretched for miles between two of the 

 larger islands. The little creatures would run 

 ahead of me, piping plaintively. Careful looking 

 finally revealed a number of their nests, back 

 from the lagoon, in the sand and broken shells 

 above high-water mark, or further back in the 

 tracts where sparse tufts of beach-grass grew 

 from the sand. The nests were more -than the 

 mere scratched-out hollows of the Piping Plo\'er, 

 in having at least a few grass-stems or scraps of 

 dried sea-weed surrounding the hollow, or even 

 partlv tilling it. The eggs were usually four, 

 sometimes only three, handsome, boldly marked, 

 resembling, save for their [lyriform shape. Terns' 

 eggs more than thr)se of Piping and Wilson's 

 Plovers. 



Breeding seemed to be at its height the tenth of 

 June. By that time a very few young were just 

 hatched. They are darker than the Piping Plover 

 chicks, but have similar ways. I had quite an 

 experience in catching and tethering one of them 

 to a blade of grass. Sitting quietl\- on the sand 

 near by, I watched the mother run about anx- 

 iously, and finally venture up to snuggle the baliy, 

 while I took snapshots of them with the reflecting 

 camera. Herbert K. }uu. 



The Semipalmated PIo\er's diet includes sev- 

 eral species of injurious grasshoppers, as well as 

 mosquitoes which seriously molest cattle and 

 certain species of which it is now well known 



Photo by H. K. Jub Courtesy ot iloughtun Miffliu Cv. 



SEMIPALMATED PLOVER 



Brooding tethered chick 



may be carriers of dangerous diseases. It is 

 known also that the bird feeds u[)on locusts. 

 The usefulness of this Ploxer is, therefore, be- 

 yond question. 



RINGED PLOVER 



.ffigialitis hiaticula {Liiiii(nis) 



A. O. LT. Number 27s 



Other Names. — Ringed Dotterel ; Ring Plover. 



General Description. — Length, -'4 inches. Colora- 

 tion very similar to that of the Semipalmated Plover, 

 but usually the white spots on the lower eyelids and a 

 white patch behind the eye are better marked. No web 

 between middle and inner toes; hind toe inissing. 



Nest and Eggs. — Nest: A slight depression in the 

 sand amid broken shells. Eggs: 4, pale buff or cream 



color, spotted with dark reddish-brown approaching 

 black. 



Distribution.— Eastern Arctic America and Old 

 World ; breeds from central Europe and Turkestan to 

 Siberia, Spitzbergen. Iceland, Greenland, and Cumber- 

 land Sound ; winters on shores of the Mediterranean 

 and throu,ghout Africa; accidental in Barliados. Chile. 

 India, and .'Kustralia. 



The well-known Ring Plover of F.uro])e was 

 long supposed to be confined to that continent, 

 but it is now known that the bird breeds freely in 

 Greenland and there are definite records of its 

 appearance in America, one specimen having 

 been taken at Great Slave Lake. It resembles 

 the Semipalmated Plover, though it is somewhat 

 larger, the black band on the brea.st is wider and 

 the white stripe on the forehead extends back- 

 ward and downward over the eye, while it lacks 



the well between the middle and inner toes of the 

 Semijialmated. Its general habits are plover- 

 like. 



This Plover must be considered a very useful 

 bird because it persistently destroys several 

 species of grasshoppers which are known to be 

 injurious to crops. It should, therefore, be pro- 

 tected against molestation whii'h is at all likely to 

 lessen materially its numbers, or to change its 

 normal habits. 



