74 Bird-Nestmg 



avosets along the beach, and we distur))ed one from its nest of 

 four eggs, which were on the point of hatching. The shells 

 were chipped, and the young ones chirping inside the shells : 

 the parent bird was greatly troubled, and flew around us jelp- 

 ing, so we retired from the spot so that she could return and 

 help her little ones out of the shells. Soon afterwards a spot- 

 ted sandpiper was startled off its nest and four eggs, the nest 

 consisting of a depression in the sand, lined with a few blades 

 of grass. I found a nundjer of sets of this species during ni}' 

 stay in this district, and noticed that the ground colour is 

 much paler than those found on Toronto island and the east ; 

 perhaps the alkaline district and change of food has something 

 to do with it. I have a large series of eggs of the spotted 

 sandpiper I collected on the island opposite Toronto, Lake On- 

 tario, and when the eggs collected at Rush Lake and vicinity 

 are compared with this series, it is at once noticed that the 

 ground colour of those from the alkaline lakes is almost white, 

 or very pale clay, whereas the ground colour of the eggs col- 

 lected in the east is deep clay or buff; the difference is very 

 noticeable. 



1 almost trod upon a young avoset in down ; as it crouched 

 between the small stones I caught sight of its bright little 

 eye or would have stepped on it, the downy plumage corres- 

 ponded so closely with the stones and sand. On glancing 

 round my feet I saw two others crouched down between the 

 stones, motionless ; on picking them up they began to call out 

 lustily, and putting them down again they ran along the sand 

 as fast as their legs could take them. They are pretty little 

 creatures, and I would have liked tliem as specimens, but I 

 could not deprive the little fellows of their lives, so we moved 

 off and the mother then flew towards them and led them 

 further away to a place of safety. Our next And was a set 

 of four eggs of the semipalmated plover. The nest, as usual 

 in the case of plovers and sandpipers, was simply a hollow in 

 the sand, lined with a few blades of grass, and -the eggs are 

 not unlike smaller varieties of the kildeer plover — ashy clay, 

 spotted with lilackish brown. This species is more numerous 



