94 MEMOIRS OF THE NUTTALL ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB 



straw-colored legs, its long tail with buff-colored upper coverts, and the two black 

 bars on the breast are all good field-marks. It is rather a tall bird in proportion 

 to the size of the body and it bobs occasionally, the head going up, the tail down. 

 It dabs at the water or mud in the regular plover style. 



^32 [274] .ffigialitis semipalmata (Bonap.). 



Semipalmated Plover; "Ring-neck." 



Abundant transient visitor in the autumn, not common in the spring. ' j\Iay 

 7 to June 14 (June 26, 30) ; July 12 to October 26 (November 10). 



The June 30 record is for 1918, when I saw three in full cry Hying north over 

 the Castleneck River. The November 10 record is of a single bird seen on 

 Ipswich Beach, in 19 13, by Dr. Walter Faxon and Dr. W. M. Tyler. 



On the breeding-grounds I have watched this species flying about in irregular 

 circles calling frec|uently. These repeated calls, which are not very unlike the 

 Flicker's call are also given from the ground. I have also heard this courtship 

 song, for so it may be regarded, at Ipswich in September. At the same time the 

 birds, which were adults, were crouched low and chasing each other with tails 

 spread and slightly cocked up, the wings partly open and the feathers of the flanks 

 puffed out. Occasionally two birds walked slowly in this manner side by side. 



134 [-^77} -ffigialitis meloda (Ord). 

 Piping Plover. 



Rare summer resident, not uncommon transient visitor. March 29 to 

 October 28. 



Eggs: May 20. 



In the 'sixties and 'seventies, Mr. C. J. Maynard described this bird as " breed- 

 ing very plentifully on the Ipswich sandhills." It continued to breed there in fast 

 diminishing numbers until about the publication of the original Memoir. Between 

 1905 and 1915, I doubt if it laid its eggs in that region, but in the latter year and 

 since, one and possibly more pairs have bred every summer. I have found them 

 in June nervously flying about and acting like wounded birds fluttering along the 

 sand. The eggs are deposited in depressions in the sand under a tuft of grass 

 or in the open. Sometimes the nest is lined or decorated with bits of white shell 

 which makes the sandy-colored eggs conspicuous. 



