174 CHARADRIID^ : PLOVERS. 



great body of migrants among the land birds, occurring 

 during the latter part of April, though their numbers are 

 greatly augmented by the middle of May. The return 

 movement of those individuals that do not remain to 

 breed is quite early — some appear in July; the birds 

 become very numerous in August, and so continue 

 well through September. Thousands are annually de- 

 stroyed by the boys and pot-hunters, who do not hesitate 

 to decimate their ranks by murderous discharges into 

 the innocent and unsuspecting flocks. The numbers of 

 these and other beach birds have been sensibly dimin- 

 ished in the years intervening since the present writer 

 was guilty of the same atrocities. 



For its nesting place, the Semipalmated Plover com- 

 monly selects some grassy spot on the marshes back of 

 the beach, oftenest near one of the numberless muddy 

 estuaries that find their way back from the sea line. 

 The nidification is not peculiar — merely a slight de- 

 pression in the ground, lined with a few blades of grass. 

 The eggs are scarcely to be distinguished from those of 

 the Kildeer, excepting in size — the largest being only 

 about 1.40 by 0.95, and the dimensions thence running 

 down to 1.20 by 0.90. The ground color ranges from 

 quite olivaceous drab to pale clay color, or even grayish- 

 white, some of the lighter-colored examples resembling 

 eggs of the Piping Plover quite closely. Compared with 

 Kildeer's eggs, the markings are usually more definite, 

 larger and bolder, with little of the scratchiness of the 

 latter. A few obscure shell-markings may usually be 

 observed. The full normal number is four, though 

 three, and even only two, may be deposited — the fewer 

 numbers being generally observed in cases of birds 

 which nest in the higher latitudes. 



