BLACK-BELLIED PLOVER 159 



If the black-bellied plover breeds in Greenland it must be very 

 rare there, for Dr. W. Elmer Ekblaw tells me that he saw it only 

 twice during the four years that he spent there. A flock that he saw 

 on Sutherland Island, south of Etah, on August lY, 1914, was made 

 up of old and young birds and the latter may have been reared there. 



Eggs. — Mr. Brandt has described the eggs so much better than I 

 can that I prefer to quote from his notes, as follows : 



Of the more than 40 nests that Vve examined of the black-bellied plover each 

 held four eggs when its complement was completed. Owing to the proportionate 

 thickness compared with its length the shape of the egg is ovate pyriform 

 inclining to subpyriform. The shell is strong, finely granular, and on every egg 

 I have seen the lustre is uniformly dull. The ground color and markings vary 

 so much that hardly any two sets are the same. This ground color appears to 

 follow three different shades, which are pinkish, greenish, or brownish. These 

 types are often quite pronounced when the eggs are fresh, but the delicate 

 tints fade with age. The pink type ranges from " pale ochraceous salmon " 

 to " light buff " ; the green type is " pale glass green " ; while the brown variety 

 is often as dark as " cinnamon drab." The eggs are never densely spotted and 

 are always most heavily marked about the large end, but the very tip of this 

 end is usually bare of spots, so that, if viewed upon the long axis, a wreath 

 of spots is observed. These spots are usually medium in size and are distinct, 

 although in a few unusual examples the spots become confluent at the large 

 end. The primary markings are irregularly circular and never elongated, while 

 upon the unusual egg these jet ornaments are of thumb-nail size In rare 

 instances the markings assume the foi'm of short penlike scratches which mark 

 the surface at various angles in the same manner as is occasionally found on 

 the eggs of other members of the Charadriidae. The spots are uniformly 

 " blackish brown " to black, but, where the pigment is spread more thinly, 

 " deep brownish drab " or " dusky drab " tones may be noted, while here and 

 there " hazel " to " liver brown " may be observed where the pigment is extremely 

 thin. The underlying spots are never numerous but always present and are 

 more prominent on some specimens than on others. They vary in tone from 

 " pale mouse gray " to " deep violet gray," dependent upon the ground color, 

 while one specimen with small primary spots is conspicuously beautified with 

 " chicory blue." A series of these noble eggs is a study in black and whitish, 

 and while the individual egg is conspicuous, yet, when resting on their mottled 

 birthplace, it is evident that nature has most happily endowed them with 

 protective coloration. 



The measurements of 174 eggs average 52.2 by 36.5 millimeters; 

 the eggs showing the four extremes measure 58 by 38, 55.5 by 38.2, 

 47.5 by 34.7 and 51.9 by 34 millimeters. The measurements of eggs 

 from different localities do not throw much light on the relationship 

 of the proposed subspecies; 120 eggs from Hooper Bay average 52.4 

 by 36.7, 14 eggs from Franklin Bay average 52 by 36, and 40 eggs 

 from European localities average 51.6 by 35.9 millimeters. 



Young, — Several observers have proven that both sexes share in 

 the incubation. Mr. Brandt saj^s in his notes : 



The first downy young appeared on June 21 after an incubation lasting 23 

 days, and they were just as inconspicuous and distinctive as were the eggs 



