230 BULLETIN 146^ UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



they congregate about swales or shallow pools to feed. They are sociably in- 

 clined and do not hesitate to make their nests near the Eskimo villages, 

 probably feeling more secure from Arctic foxes when near dogs and human 

 habitation. 



Courtship. — Tlie courtship of this species has been well described 

 by Farren, Selous, and Stanford. The former (1910) says: 



Ringed plovers may be seen iu pairs skimming low over the ground, circling 

 to a far height and descending again like a flash, almost touching the ground 

 as they do so. They do not follow each other, but each describes similar evo- 

 lutions, overlapping and crossing the other's line of flight. Their long pointed 

 wings, showing much white, give a fictitious impression of size and as they 

 alight on the ground after skimming a short distance with curved drooping 

 wings they seem suddenly to vanish from sight as they touch ground ; in 

 place of the long-winged graceful flyer is a little plump-shaped gray bird, very 

 difficult to see as it runs with short quick steps over the sand. 



Edmund Selous (1901) also describes a male as advancing to- 

 ward the hen a few steps at a time, and moving his legs with a rapid 

 vibratory motion during the pauses. Stanford (1927) remarks that 

 the courtship is by no means easy to observe even with the aid of a 

 powerful glass. 



In one party on the beach on March 20, where at least two males were con- 

 tending for one female, the males ran backward and forward with short, quick 

 steps, and when another male was near the feathers of the back and the tips of 

 the closed wings were elevated, the tail depressed and spread out to its full 

 extent to show the white tips of the feathers, and the whole body arched 

 with the head and neck drawn in, the black gorget being pufted out to nearly 

 twice its normal size. In this crouching attitude the males ran aimlessly to 

 and fro for half an hour at a time, but making no real attempt to attack 

 each other. 



Another male — 



kept running in front of the hen and sinking down on the beach every few yards 

 exactly as if settling down on a nest. Occasionally while brooding in this 

 way he would tilt himself forward onto his breast with the closed wing tips 

 pointing up almost vertically over his back, the tail depressed, and the legs 

 scratching out sand and stones behind him. The indifference displayed by the 

 hen to this performance was as noticeable as it usually is in the case of 

 lapwings' " rolling " on the ground. On several otlaer occasions in April I saw 

 cock ringed plovers settle down and appear to brood for several minutes 

 exactly as if they were on a nest ; in one case the bird kept turning round and 

 round on one spot, and twice at least this action was followed by an attempt 

 at coition. 



The love flight often covers nearly a mile of ground, and both 

 birds take i^art — crossing and recrossing with their bodies twisting 

 from side to side and soft beats of the wings. The double note, 

 according to Stanford, has a remarkably vibrant quality at these 

 times and the throat appears to be swelled out. 



Nesting.— 'Both nesting sites and the nests themselves of this 

 species vary considerably. The commonest site is among the sand 



