58 BULLETIN 14 6, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



Another pretty version of the courtship is given by Katharine U. 

 Hunter (1916) thus: 



It was the springtime (1916). The prolonged wail, vague and sad, of the 

 plovers rose in our upland pasture. I watched them carry on their odd court- 

 ship; hopping toward each other, twittering, flying away, then repeating it all 

 again, the hopping, twittering, and retreating. Ungainly, spirit-voiced birds ! 

 Once from out the black, vibrant night came the eerie, long-drawn whistle of a 

 plover lover. 



Nesting. — My first upland plover's nest was found on May 25, 1900, 

 near the western end of Marthas Vineyard, Mass. The birds were 

 still fairly common here in those days and there were at least 

 three pairs of them breeding in this and adjoining pastures. The 

 nest was on a knoll in a sheep pasture where the grass had been 

 cropped short except for scattered tufts, where it grew from 7 to 10 

 inches high, offering the necessary concealment. In one of these 

 tufts, about a foot in diameter, a hollow had been scratched, 4 or 5 

 inches in diameter and nearly 3 inches deep ; it was lined with small 

 bits of dried grass and held four handsome eggs. 



Since then I have found several nests in Saskatchewan. These 

 nests were all similarly located on the dry, grassy prairies, slight 

 hollows in the ground, about 4 inches in diameter and 2 inches deep, 

 generally well hidden in rather long, thick grass; they were lined 

 with pieces of dry grass, and the growing grass was artfully arched 

 over them for protection. The birds usually sat very closely; once 

 we drove over a nest, flushing the bird under the wagon ; and several 

 times we were able to part the grass over the nest or even touch 

 the bird before she left. She usually ran or fluttered away for a 

 few feet and then ran about near us, with her long neck stretched 

 up above the grass, watching us and uttering her quip-ip-ip-ip notes 

 of protest. 



Nests found by others have been similarly described, but Prof. 

 W. B. Barrows (1912) says that— 



in Michigan, it frequently nests in wet grounds, although the nest itself is 

 usually placed ,on one of the drier spots. We have seen the birds nesting in 

 two instances in good snipe bogs where the mud was ankle deep and dry spots 

 few and far between. 



Prof. William Eowan (1926) says that in Alberta — 



the nests found were very variable in make-up and situation. One had no 

 lining w^hatever and consisted of a mere scrape in the ground. This was in 

 a hollow right in the open on a huge sandy area with but sparse vegetation, 

 on which long-billed curlews (Numenius aniericanus) were nesting. Others 

 were in clumps of rough brush, and this is probably typical for this locality. 

 Another was in long grass. The most elaborate lining noted consisted of 

 leaves, bents, and small twigs. One clutch of five was found and one of three, 

 the latter no doubt incomplete, as the bird was not about and the eggs were 

 fresh. 



