236 BULLETIN 146, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



DISTRIBUTION 



Breeding range. — Central and southern Europe, from France, 

 Denmark, southern Sweden, southern Finland and 64° N. in Russia, 

 south to the Mediterranean and its islands and Africa north of the 

 Sahara. In Asia its range extends across Siberia to the Pacific and 

 includes also Japan. In India and the Philippines, Hainan, and 

 Formosa it is replaced by other subspecies. It does not breed in the 

 British Isles, but nests in Madeira and the Canaries. 



Winter range. — ^Winters in tropical Africa, south to the Gold 

 Coast, Fernando Po, the lower Niger, Lakes Rudolf, Albert and 

 Victoria Nyanza, and the Red Sea coast ; in Asia to Arabia and India 

 and also to the Sunday Islands and perhaps New Guinea. 



Spring migration. — In south Spain it arrives about mid March 

 and is widely distributed in April, while in the eastern Mediter- 

 ranean the passage takes place in Crete and Corfu in April. On 

 Heligoland it is only a rare straggler. 



Fall migration. — The north German breeding birds leave for the 

 south at the end of September. Farther south the presence of im- 

 migrants from the north among the breeding birds is seldom noted. 



Casual records. — In the British Isles there are about 10 well- 

 authenticated records; April (2), August (4), and October (1 or 2). 

 The supposed records from Iceland and the Faroes are not authenti- 

 cated. Gaetke only records 2 at Heligoland in 50 years. 



Egg dates. — In northern Africa eggs have been found from March 

 onward; in Spain and the Balearic Isles, March 16 (1 date), April 

 15 to 30 (3 dates). May 1 to 14 (4 dates), 15 to 30 (3 dates) ; late 

 dates, June 12 and July 11. In France and Germany, May 3 to 17 

 (7 dates), 18 to 31 (8 dates); June 1 to 15 (5 dates); late dates, 

 July 19 and 22. 



CHARADRIUS MELODUS Ord 

 PIPING PLOVER 



HABITS 



Contributed by Winsor Marrett Tyler 



Wilson and Audubon were familiar with the piping plover as 

 a common summer resident on the sandy beaches of the Atlantic 

 coast. Audubon found it breeding as far north as the Magdelen 

 Islands and wintering abundantly on the coast of Florida. 



During the years between the time of these early writers and the 

 present, the species has been subjected to many seasons of spring 

 and autumn shooting which, in the closing years of the nineteenth 

 century, brought the bird nearly to the point of extinction. 



