MOUNTAIN PLOVER 265 



wings horizontally to their extreme width while standing, then 

 falling flat with her neck and wings extended their full length on 

 the ground, at times with beak open, she retreated as he approached, 

 or followed closely as he returned toward the nest." 



Eggs. — The mountain plover lays almost invariably three eggs, 

 occasionally only two, and four eggs have been recorded. They are 

 ovate to short ovate in shape, with no gloss. The prevailing ground 

 colors are " deep olive buff " or " dark olive buff " ; some few are 

 " chamois " and one pink set has a " light pinkish cinnamon " ground 

 color. They are irregularly marked, but chiefly near the larger end, 

 with small spots and scrawls of black, which sometimes form a ring 

 near the larger end. The measurments of 58 eggs average 37.3 by 

 28.3 millimeters; the eggs showing the four extremes measure 40 \y^ 

 28.5, 37.5 by 29.2, 34.3 by 28.4, and 38.5 by 27 millimeters. 



Young. — Apparently both sexes incubate; an incubating male has 

 been taken. William G. Smith says in his notes : 



The young are very nimble when only a few days old, and it is quite a task to 

 catch them. They do not attempt to hide. A peculiarity of these birds is, 

 though three eggs are generally laid, I never saw but two young with the old 

 birds. I lived on the prairies for six years, a mile from any other habitation ; 

 I had every opportunity to observe the traits of these birds. When they are 

 well able to run each of the old birds takes one to raise, and that method seems 

 the rule. 



Edward R. Warren's (1912) observations do not agree with the 

 above, for he has seen a parent with three young and has seen the 

 young attempt to hide; but he says "it was easily seen when once 

 found, for its colors did not blend particularly well with the ground 

 it was on." 



Plumages. — In the downy young mountain plover the upper parts 

 are " cream buff," tinged with " chamois " on the crown, wings, and 

 rump, shading off to buffy white on the throat and under parts; the 

 crown, sides of the neck, occiput, back, wings, rump, and thighs are 

 conspicuously spotted with black ; the forehead is unmarked. Young 

 birds, about half grown, show the juvenal plumage coming in on the 

 back, scapulars, crown, and sides of the breast, with the wing quills 

 bursting their sheaths. 



In full juvenal plumage, in September, the crown, back, scapulars, 

 and wing coverts are "buffy brown," with "cinnamon-buff" edges, 

 broadest on the wing coverts ; the sides of the head are " pinkish buff " 

 and the breast and flanks are suffused with the same color ; the throat 

 and belly are white. This plumage seems to be worn without much 

 change, except by wear and fading, all through the first fall and 

 winter. The upper parts are still mainly "buffy brown," but with 

 only the faintest trace of the edgings. The spring molt apparently 



