THE OOLOOIST 



219 



Nest and Eggs of the Piping Plover 



—Photo by Dr. R. B. Bales 



catcher, at least in this locality, seems 

 to have a decided preference for sas- 

 safras trees, although I found nests 

 in "Wild cherry and one in a cedar tree 

 on the "home" island. 



A couple of days later, we again vis- 

 ited the island where the Willet nest 

 was found. A herd of half wild cat- 

 tle, led by a belligerent bull and a 

 large flock of sheep roam over it. We 

 visited a medium sized colony of 

 Black Skimmers, but the eggers had 

 robbed it so often that the birds had 

 given up in disgust, evidently finding 

 it too hard work to fight both "man 

 and bea.st." However we did find a 

 nest of Gull billed Tern containing 

 three eggs. The nest was well lined 

 with bits of shell and short lengths of 

 marsh grass stalks, and was well con- 



cealed upon a shell strewn beach, well 

 back from the water. This variety of 

 Tern is the most pugnacious of the 

 four varieties observed and will 

 charge and dart at one repeatedly 

 while near the nest and will follow the 

 intruder for quite a distance, "cuss- 

 ing" him all the while; our guide 

 said it was the "evilest" bird he ever 

 saw. 



Another trip was made to this same 

 island on June 23d. After walking 

 about four miles down the beach, our 

 attention was attracted to a pair of 

 Piping Plovers, who acted suspicious- 

 ly. A careful search was rewarded 

 by finding a nest containing three 

 eggs. These did not look like Plover 

 eggs, so we sat down upon the sand by 

 the side of the nest, and were soon 



