182 BULLETIN 146;, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



plains, plowed lands and occasionally open sand or mud flats. Its 

 food consists almost entirely of insects, chiefly Orthoptera which 

 abound in the pasture lands. It is said to feed mainly on grass- 

 hoppers, but George H. Mackay (1891), who is very familiar with it, 

 says that he has never seen it eat any, though he has watched it 

 through a strong glass near at hand. He says : 



I have also examined the stomachs of a good many which I have shot on 

 Nantucket, and have never found any grasshoppers in them, nor in fact any- 

 thing but crickets (which seem their principal food there), grass seeds, a little 

 vegetable matter, like seaweed, coarse sand, and small stones. I have also 

 frequently shot them with the vent stained purple, probably from the berries 

 of the Empetnim nigrum. 



They must find abundant food in the north, for they are always 

 very fat when they arrive here. The large numbers of grasshoppers, 

 locusts, crickets, and other insects that they destroy make them very 

 beneficial birds to the farmers of the Avest, where they also do much 

 good by eating the grubs, cutworms, and wireworms on freshly 

 plowed lands, their favorite resorts in spring. On the shores and 

 open flats they find some small mollusks and crustaceans. The crops 

 of two which Lucien M. Turner collected in northern Ungava were 

 filled with ripening berries of Einpetruiii nigrum and remains of 

 spiders. Hantzsch found them eating beetles and caterpillars on 

 Baffin Island. 



Behavior. — The flight of the golden plover is exceedingly swift, 

 strong and protracted, as it must be to make such wonderful migra- 

 tions. Over the prairies the flocks sweep along in compact and ever 

 changing formations, skimming close to the ground at times and 

 then rising high in the air, frequently whistling as they go. William 

 Brewster (1925) has described their flight, as seen at Umbagog Lake, 

 Maine, as follows : 



They habitually flew faster than any of the other waders and perhaps more 

 swiftly than any of the ducks except the hooded merganser. Their long, 

 pointed wings, lifting high and cutting deep at each stroke, beat rapidly and 

 ceaselessly, yet so easily and smoothly as to indicate comparatively slight 

 muscular effort. If they happened to pass near at hand or overhead their 

 flight was likely to impress one as having not only exceeding speed but irre- 

 sistible momentum, also as of solid projectiles, hurtling tlirough the air. Seen 

 at a distance they appear to be moving more slowly and looked not unlike 

 passenger pigeons. 



When preparing to alight the flocks often perform extensive evolu- 

 tions, circling and turning, as they sweep about over the ground, 

 as if selecting a satisfactory landing place. When a suitable spot is 

 chosen, they all alight in a compact bunch, raising their wings high 

 above their backs before folding them, and soon scatter ovet the 

 ground to feed. When on the ground they are very active, running 



