PACIFIC GOLDBIT PLOVER 195 



as May 8, and Herbert W. Brandt says in his notes from Hooper 

 Bay: 



When the first small flocks of this noble Asiatic visitant appeared on Point 

 Dall on May 16 the receding snow seemed to emphasize its golden splendor. 

 It never became really common like its larger relative, the black-bellied plover, 

 but numerous individuals and small bands were observed which, however, 

 proved to be transients, for they all departed by early June. They usually 

 associated with the gaudily attired ruddy turnstone and the combined lavish 

 color effect of these two feathered gems was lovely indeed to behold. The 

 Eskimos claim that, when seal hunting olf Point Dall, they often encountered 

 birds of the present species flying shoreward, so perhaps many of these long- 

 flighted migrants moved directly from the western section of the Aleutian 

 Islands across Bering Sea to their Alaskan summer homes. 



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

 nesting habits of this plover : 



The breeding realm of the aristocratic golden plover in the Hooper Bay 

 region is confined to a narrow belt on the mountain slopes well above brush 

 line in the Askinuk Range. Here at an altitude of from five to eight hundred 

 feet dwells a pair nearly every half mile, or about the same relative distance 

 apart that the black-bellied plover families maintain between themselves on 

 the tundra below. 



The only nest of the Pacific golden plover to come under my observation 

 was found on June 27 at an altitude of 600 feet on the Bimute spur of the 

 Askinuk Kange. On this upper mountain slope amid the scattered rocky 

 outcrops exists a grim Arctic flora of mosses and lichens which in patches is 

 mottled black and grayish white. On one of these velvet-like spots a little 

 top moss is removed by the birds so as to make a slight depression in which 

 the four beautiful eggs are placed. The lining of the nest is simply a few 

 short unarranged stems of the reindeer moss that no doubt grew on the site. 

 The nesting cavity is 4 inches in diameter and only half an inch in depth, 

 thus making it notable as perhaps the most meager of the limicoline abodes 

 we found. The parti-colored eggs and their eiivirons blend as one in coloration, 

 so, even in that jaeger-ridden land, they enjoy unusual protective security. 

 The male bird alone was present during my stay in the vicinity of his abiding 

 place and failed to exhibit either the extreme timidity or the agitation so 

 characteristic of the black-bellied plover. 



Henry Seebohm (1901) gives the following account of finding a 

 nest near the banks of the Yenesei Eiver in Siberia : 



On the top of the bank I found myself on the real tundra. Not a trace of a 

 pine tree was visible, and the birches rarely exceeded 12 inches in height. 

 There was less grass, more moss and lichen, and the ground was covered with 

 patches of yellow mud or clay, in which were a few small stones, 'that were 

 apparently too barren for even moss or lichen to grow upon. The tundra 

 was hilly, with lakes, swamps, and bogs in the wide valleys and plains. As 

 soon as I reached the flat bogs I heard the plaintive cry of a plover, and 

 presently caught sight of two birds. The male was very conspicuous, but all 

 my attempts to follow the female with my glass, in order to trace her to 

 the nest, proved ineffectual ; she was too nearly the color of the ground, and 

 the herbage was too high. Feeling convinced that I was within 30 paces of 

 the nest, I shot the male, and commenced a diligent search. The bird proved 



