AMEEICAN GOLDEN PLOVER 179 



last stopping place. They stay with us some days and then go in the manner 

 in which they came, en masse. We have no records earlier than May 8 when 

 the birds may first be expected, but the main contingent arrives nearer the 16th 

 or 17th, while by the 23d or 24th they have usually all gone. Their period with 

 us is therefore brief as compared with the majority of shore birds. 



The remainder of the journey is quickly completed, for, at Point 

 Barrow, John Murdoch (1885) says: 



They are among the earlier waders to arrive, as stragglers generally appear 

 about the 20th to the 25th of May, before there is much bare ground. In 1S82 

 a small party in full breeding plumage, and apparently all males, arrived May 

 21, but no more arrived until June 11. The tundra was at this time bare only 

 along the edge of the beach, and the ice and snow was not yet gone from the 

 lagoons. This party remained in nearly the same place for a couple of weeks, 

 feeding on small red worms which they found in marshy spots, and all but two 

 of them were taken, although they were very wild. 



Along through the first and second week in June they continued to arrive iii 

 small parties, and from that time on are quite plenty scattered in pairs and 

 threes all over the tundra. They are very wild and difficult to approach, and 

 very noisy. In addition to their ordinary well-known call note, they have in 

 the breeding season, a loud but very melodious cry of tucVling! many times 

 repeated, uttered as the bird flies along rather high, with long slow strokes of 

 the wings. 



Nesting. — Roderick MacFarlane was very successful in finding 

 nests of golden plover in the Anderson River region and other parts 

 of the Arctic barren grounds. He sent a large number of eggs to 

 Washington and I find in his notes references to over 120 nests, on 

 which some data were given, mostly very brief. He says that 

 " golden plover were in great abundance in the barren grounds, as 

 well as along the Arctic coast. They seldom or never nested in the 

 wooded country, though a few specimens were found on the open 

 plains or commons, which occur on the borders of that tract." Some 

 of the nests on the Arctic coast were " near the beach " or even 

 " within a few yards of the sea water." The nests were evidently 

 mere hollows in the open tundra, lined with dead leaves ; there were 

 no attempts at concealment, but the protective coloring of the eggs 

 made them very difficult to find. He says that " when a nest of this 

 plover is approached the female invariably gets off it at a quick pace, 

 between a run and a walk, which it continues at short intervals until 

 the intruder be attracted to a distance therefrom, when it flies away. 

 The male generally joins its mate in this." On a few occasions, when 

 surprised, the bird fluttered away for a short distance, but soon began 

 to run as usual. Often the bird left the nest when the men were 100 

 yards away from it. Once when they had hunted in vain for an hour 

 and a half, they retired and watched. "After a few minutes she 

 came on at a cautious run, stopping frequently and making occasional 

 excursions in different directions," and finally settled on the eggs. 



