g2 MEMOIRS OF THE NUTTALL ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB 



lower breast. Dr. J. C. Phillips records a Black-bellied Plover shot at Wenliain 

 Lake on October 21, 19 14, the only one he ever shot there. 



I have little to add to my former notes on this splendid bird. One of the 

 very few times I have seen it in the salt-marshes was on May 20, 1906, when a 

 flock of almost fifty swung around and alighted in the marsh near my house at 

 Ipswich. On May 30, 1907, about four in the afternoon a flock of over twenty 

 flew north over my house in perfect V-formation. Their calls came down in a 

 shower of sweet yet mournful whistles. Mr. R. M. Marble at Ipswich on the 

 morning of May 15, 1912, saw a flock of about two hundred of these birds fly up 

 until nearly out of sight and then strike out for the north. 



A study of the wet sand where Black-bellied Plover have been feeding shows 

 that the hole made by the bill is often double, indicating that the bill is open when 

 the bird dabs at the sand. 



131 [272] Charadrius dominicus dominicus (Miill.). 

 Golden Plover; "Pale-belly"; "Green-back"; "Green Plover." 



Accidental spring, rare autumn transient visitor. April 8 to ^lay 18; August 

 23 to November 14. 



The April 8 record was made in 1911, at Plum Island by Mr. J. L. Peters' 

 in company with Dr. J. B. Brainerd, Barron Brainerd, and Richard M. Marble. 

 Mr. Peters shot the bird which is now in his collection. The bird proved to be a 

 male with a single black feather near the middle of the breast. " The bird had 

 not been seen by members of the Plum Island life-saving station near which it 

 was shot, neither were there any traces of old wounds. His body was entirely 

 free from fat. Whether he was a straggling migrant or a bird that had been 

 forced to winter is a cjuestion open to discussion." Damsell records that this 

 species was abundant in 1891. In 1908, following a storm on August 26, there 

 was a large flight of these birds on the Essex County coast and individuals 

 remained until September 29. Mr. G. M. Bubier estimates there were 270 birds 

 and that 28 were shot at Eagle Hill. Mr. George Patterson reported " a large 

 bunch" crossing over the Ipswich dunes on August 26, 1918. 



132 [273] Oxyechus vociferus (Linn.). 



KiLLDEER. 



Not uncommon summer resident (winter). March 13 to December 15 

 (winter). 



1 Peters, J. L. Auk, vol. 28, p. 368, 191 1. 



