WILSOliT PLOVER 261 



Behamor. — Audubon (1840) describes the behavior of this plover 

 very well, as follows : 



The flight of this species, is rapid, elegant, and protracted. While travel- 

 ing from one sand beach or island to another, they fly low over the land or 

 water, emitting a fine, clear, soft note. Now and then, when after the breed- 

 ing season they form into flocks of 20 or 30, they perform various evolutions In 

 the air, cutting backward and forward, as if inspecting the spot on which 

 they wish to alight, and then suddenly descend, sometimes on the sea beach 

 and sometimes on the more elevated sands at a little distance from it. They 

 do not run so nimbly as the piping plovers nor are they nearly so shy. I have 

 in fact frequently walked up so as to be within 10 yards or so of them. They 

 seldom mix with other species, and they show a decided preference to solitary 

 uninhabited spots. 



Voice. — My field notes, written over 20 years ago, refer to Wilson 

 plover flying about their breeding grounds, whistling their musical 

 call notes, somewhat suggestive of the notes of the piping plover, but 

 not so loud nor so rich in tone. Francis M. Weston writes to me 

 that " the note of anxiety, when on the ground, is a sharp wheet, 

 beween a chirp and a whistle. On the wing, it gives a low tut-tut, 

 somewhat like the alarm note of the wood thrush, but pitched lower 

 and never of more than two syllables." C. J. Pennock says, in his 

 notes, that when they have eggs or young " they fly about close 

 overhead, or run along the sand, calling queet.^ queet, quit it, quit it, 

 in a high-pitched tone, frequently three or four birds joining in the 

 vocal protest." John T. Nichols says in his notes: "The common- 

 est note of this species on the ground and on the wing is a ternlike 

 quip, sometimes double qui-pip. Less frequently, on the ground, it 

 has a surprisingly human whistled w\hip." 



Field Tnarks. — The best field character of the Wilson plover is the 

 long, heavy, wholly black bill, which is very conspicuous in all 

 plumages; it is relatively larger and more prominent than that of 

 the black-bellied plover. The Wilson is decidedly larger than the 

 semipalmated or the piping plover; it is slightly lighter in color 

 than the former and much darker than the latter. I have noticed 

 that in flight it appears quite dark colored above, with no conspic- 

 uous white except in the lateral tail feathers. 



Winter. — We recorded this species as a winter resident on the west 

 coast of Florida as far north as Tampa Bay, but it was rare in mid- 

 winter and did not become common until March. It frequented the 

 sand bars and sandy islands on the Gulf shore, together with other 

 small plovers and sandpipers. It was much tamer than any of the 

 other shore birds and less active; it was the only one of the whole 

 tribe that could be openly approached on the unprotected beaches. 

 It was usually seen singly, apart from the others, and never in flocks. 



