60 BULLETIN 146, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



their legs look disproportionately large, like those of a young colt or calf ; and 

 they may be caught with little difficulty, as they do not run very well. I once 

 happened upon a brood, perhaps two weeks old, rambling with their mother over 

 the prairie. She sounded the alarm, to scatter her brood, but not before I had 

 secured one of them in my hand. I never saw a braver defense attempted 

 than was made by this strong-hearted though powerless bird, who, after ex- 

 hausting her artifices to draw me in pursuit of herself, by tumbling about as if 

 desperately wounded, and lying panting with outstretched wings on the grass, 

 gave up hope of saving her young in this way, and then almost attacked me, 

 dashing close up and retreating again to renew her useless onslaught. She was 

 evidently incited to unusual courage by the sight of her little one struggling in 

 my hand. At this downy stage the young birds are white below, finely mottled 

 with black, white, and rich brown above ; the feet and under mandible are 

 light colored ; the upper mandible is blackish. 



Although these tattlers are generally dispersed over the prairies during the 

 summer, yet they affect particular spots by preference. Away from the river 

 valleys, such spots are the numerous depressions of rolling prairie, often of 

 great extent, which are moist or even watery at some seasons, and where the 

 vegetation is most luxuriant. Here they gather almost into colonies. Riding 

 into some such spot in July, when the young birds are being led about by their 

 parents, some old bird more watchful than the rest, or nearest to the person 

 approaching, gives the alarm with a loud outcry, the young scatter and hide, 

 and all the old birds are soon on wing ; hovering in the air, often at a great 

 height, crossing each other's path, and ceaselessly vociferating their displeasure. 

 I have often seen a dozen or twenty overhead at once, all from a little spot 

 only a few acres in extent. Later in the season, when all the summer's bi'oods 

 are on wing, they make up into flocks, often of great extent, and old and young 

 together assume the ordinary routine of their lives. They leave these northern 

 regions early. I saw none after the forepart of September. 



Plumages. — In the downy young upland plover, the crown, back, 

 and rump are prettily variegated, marbled, or mottled, with black, 

 "wood brown," "pinkish buff," and white, with no definite pattern. 

 The sides of the head and the entire under parts are pale buff or buffy 

 white, whitest on the belly and throat. A narrow, median frontal 

 stripe and. a few spots on the sides of the head are black. 



The Juvenal plumage is much like that of the summer adult, but it 

 is much more buffy, especially about the head and neck, which are 

 " cinnamon-buff " or " light ochraceous buff " ; the crown is nearly 

 solid brownish black, or with only a narrow, median, buffy line ; the 

 back and scapulars are brownish black with broad " cinnamon " edg- 

 ings and with little or no definite barring on the scapulars ; the lesser 

 wing coverts are sepia with " cinnamon-buff " edgings, broader than 

 in the adult; and the median coverts are sepia, broadly tipped, and 

 notched with " cinnamon-buff " and with a subterminal spot or bar 

 of dark sepia. This plumage is partially molted in August and 

 September, producing the first winter plumage, which is like the 

 adult, except that the ju venal flight feathers and most of the wing 

 coverts are retained. At the first prenuptial molt young birds ap- 

 parently become indistinguishable from adults. 



