BLACK-BELLIED PLOVER 157 



and then alight among the others on the grouncl. When in its full plumage this 

 plover is very noticeable even a long distance off, and when on the ground is 

 always wary and alert. On alighting if it does not stand motionless, the bird 

 will immediately move to the nearest height of land, if such there happens to 

 be, and from such point of vantage will then scan the landscape, and should 

 there happen to be a number in company you will always find two or three 

 maintaining a lookout while the remainder move about rather unconcernedly. 

 At times associated with the many sandpipers would be a number of knots, 

 but as a rule this latter species was found in flocks by itself with this excep- 

 tion, that always with a flock of knots would be one or more black-bellied 

 plover, such acting as sentinels for the former. And this being the case, the 

 knots would then unconcernedly feed, as they seemed to rely implicitly on 

 the plovers' watchfulness, and we never noted this confidence misplaced. And 

 this fact must in instances prove the salvation of those shore birds more or 

 less unsuspicious and having this plover in company, for they seem to be 

 governed by its actions. Sometimes, with a warning note, the sentinel would 

 suddenly take wing and instantly was followed by the entire flock of other 

 birds en masse, and all would then fly about perhaps for a time before once 

 more alighting on some spot selected by the plover acting as the sentinel. At 

 one time during our stay there were between three and four thousand of these 

 plover on the meadows, and we were told that on the preceding day during 

 the height of the storm this number must have been exceeded. 



Courtship. — I have never seen any signs of courtships during the 

 spring migration, though I have often looked for it ; nor have I ever 

 seen any mention of it by others. Hence I infer that it is accom- 

 plished after the birds arrive on their breeding grounds. Herbert W. 

 Brandt says in his Alaska notes : 



During courtship the male spends considerable time on the wing, speeding 

 about like a racer ; and amid the constant din of wild-fowl notes his cheery whistle 

 to lee, to lee, is one of the pleasant sounds that greet the ear. But once the 

 female is incubating her lord becomes as serious and silent as his sober black 

 waistcoat, so that by early June it seemed as if every plover had left the 

 country. He carries on his courtship regardless of weather, now mounting 

 high, the next moment skimming low, with beautiful and bewildering grace, 

 his wild whistling call meanwhile rising above the din of the storm. The 

 advance guard of migrants of this plover arrived from the south in a " nor'- 

 wester " on May 7, passing like phantom voyagers, and the next instant were 

 lost in mid-air in the swirling snow. 



Nesting. — Mr. Brandt has sent me the following notes on the 

 nesting habits of the black-bellied plover in the Hooper Bay region 

 of Alaska : 



We found this jauntily attired plover the most common nesting species of 

 the larger shore birds, frequenting the upland rolling tundra, where it pre- 

 ferred the ridges. It often chose for a nesting site the edge of one of the 

 more prominent bluffs which formed the margin of the valleys, from which 

 location the sitting bird could view the entire surrounding country. On these 

 barren areas, where even the close-cropped moss struggles for existence, the 

 vegetation is mottled with black and white, and as a consequence the eggs, in 

 spite of their exposed situation, are very difficult to find. One must almost 

 touch them to be sure that they are there, so completely do they harmonize 



