Tue SHORE Birpbs. 211 
the Zel/-/ale. Inthe middle of June I observed this species in the 
vicinity of Burlington, New Jersey, but I could not discover its nest.’’ 
With the birds of the vicinity of Burlington I am 
very familiar, and I have never found the nest of this 
bird there; but I am confident that it breeds in the 
highlands of Bucks County, Pennsylvania, on the op- 
posite side of the Delaware River. 
In April and again in late July, and from then until 
the weather cools, there are two pretty little sand- 
pipers that make for me the sandy ocean-shore ex- 
ceedingly attractive; these are the Least and Semi- 
palmated ‘“ Peeps,” as they are so generally called. 
The Least Sand-piper is the more abundant of the 
two, and comes with more regularity along our rivers, 
especially in autumn; but they are best seen running 
on the beaches of old ocean, following the receding 
wave and never being overwhelmed by the incoming 
deluge. Flush them and the cheery “ fAeep” sounds 
loud and clear above the roar of the ocean, and with 
what confidence they speed over the troubled water, 
almost venturing to touch it with their toes as it 
rushes madly beneath them! This is one of the 
many sights in the bird-world that I never tire of. 
The true Plovers, of which there are many kinds, 
are an interesting family, and coming within the scope 
of sportsmen’s game-birds, are well known to people 
who measure a bird only by the toothsome qualities 
of its flesh. To some people, however, a whistling 
quail is as dear a song-bird as is the melancholy 
thrush or exultant grosbeak. 
The larger forms, as the Black-bellied and Golden 
Plover, are migratory birds that nest well up in the 
