SQUATAROLA HELVETICA : BLACK-BELLIED PLOVER. l6$ 



ward. The majority of such birds are, therefore, vernal 

 and autumnal migrants with us, neither nesting within 

 our limits, nor enduring the rigors of our inhospitable 

 season. 



The Black-bellied Plover, called " Bull-head " or 

 " Beetle-head " by the gunners, is a good illustration of 

 these remarks. It is common during the migration, 

 particularly coastwise, but never seen at other seasons. 

 It arrives late in April, and remains but a short time, 

 seeming anxious to be on its way, as if it knew what a 

 long journey must be accomplished in order that the 

 sudden and fleeting Arctic summer may see its brood 

 safely on wing. Returning in the fall from these dreary 

 hyperborean regions, it greets us early in September, 

 and then seems in no hurry to seek other feeding 

 grounds. For several weeks it lingers with us in flocks, 

 both along the coast and on the uplands, before pro- 

 ceeding further on its long and devious pathway towards 

 the tropics. 



Eggs of this species, collected on the Arctic coast, 

 east of Anderson River, July 4, 1864, afford the follow- 

 ing description : Size 2.10 by 1.40, to 1.90 by 1.40, in a 

 set of four. ' Color, brownish-drab, or rather dark 

 brownish-clay color, very thickly marked at and around 

 the larger end, for nearly half the length of the egg, with 

 irregularly sized and shaped spots and blotches of 

 brownish-black, and over the rest of the surface thinly 

 spotted with smaller marks of the same color. The 

 larger markings around the butt are to a great extent 

 confluent, producing an imperfect wreath. A very few 

 paler shell markings are noted on close scrutiny. The 

 nest was a depression of the ground on the side of a 

 slight eminence, lined with a few dried grasses. An- 



