248 BULLETIN 14 6, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



stretch of sand flats above an ocean beach, backed by sand dunes and 

 bordered on the inner side by a sluggish stream meandering through 

 a marsh and some brackish lagoons. But civilization was encroach- 

 ing on the plover's paradise, for several cottages had been built on 

 the beach and it was much frequented. Some four pairs of snowy 

 plover still clung to their ancestral home ; we found three nests with 

 three eggs each and one empty nest, in open spaces among the houses. 

 The nests were mostly on little mounds of sand and scattered pebbles 

 or among low sand dunes covered with low weeds and vines. They 

 were deep hollows in the sand, profusely lined with finely broken 

 white and pink shells, among scattered small stones, bits of wood, or 

 other rubbish. Amid such surroundings the eggs were not easily 

 detected; but we could usually locate the nests by the multitude of 

 little footprints in the sand converging toward the nest. All but 

 one of the birds were shy and sneaked off the nests before we drew 

 near. They watched us from a distance, running about very swiftly, 

 whistling their soft, plaintive notes of protest. One bird was very 

 tame; I gradually walked up very close to her and finally photo- 

 graphed her within 3 or 4 feet. This gentle and confiding little bird, 

 after running about with drooping wings and spread tail, came 

 slowly up to the nest and settled down on the eggs right in front of 

 me, spreading out her plumage to cover her treasures. As a reward 

 for her bravery we did not disturb her further. 

 Grinnell, Bryant, and Storer (1918) write that: 



In the vicinity of the salt works near Alvarado, on the Alameda County shore 

 of San Francisco Bay, L. R. Reynolds found that a great many pairs had in the 

 summer of 1914 selected nesting sites on the dike separating the salt ponds. 

 Tlie workmen, in traversing the dikes with wheelbarrows, reported having 

 broken many eggs. 



Eggs. — The snowy plover ordinarily lays three eggs, but often 

 only two. Mr. Chambers (1904) says that out of 44 sets which he 

 collected 11 were of two eggs and 33 were of three. The two egg sets 

 were complete, as he left them long enough to make sure. The eggs 

 were laid about three days apart. The extended nesting season, 

 April to July, would seem to indicate that two broods are raised, but 

 I believe that this has not been positively proven. The eggs are short, 

 ovate in shape, and without gloss. They are colored to match the 

 sand — " olive buff " to " pale olive buff," or " cartridge buff." They 

 are more or less evenly but not thickly covered with small spots, 

 dots, or little scrawls of black and a few small inconspicuous spots 

 of " pallid mouse gray." The measurements of 51 eggs average 30.4 

 by 22.3 millimeters ; the eggs showing the four extremes measure 32.5 

 by 23.5, 30 by 24, and 28 by 20.5 millimeters. 



Young. — Apparently both sexes share the duties of incubation and 

 care of the young, at which they prove devoted parents. When the 



