Hoon THE PIPING PLOVER. 
No. 222. 
PIPING PEOVER: 
Y A. O. U. No. 277. A€gialitis meloda (Ord.). 
Description.—Adult male in summer: Upper parts pale brownish gray, the 
forecrown black and a black band on the side of the breast, not meeting its fellow 
in front or behind; a band on forehead, a cervical collar continuous with throat, 
and remaining under parts, pure white; tail fuscous, becoming white laterally ; 
primaries dusky with partially white shafts, and corresponding white spaces cen- 
trally on webs; greater coverts and secondaries mostly white; bill yellow or orange 
at base, blackening toward tip. Adult female, and male in winter: Similar, but 
black of crown and sides of breast reduced to brownish gray. Young: Similar, 
but feathers of upper parts edged with whitish. Length 6.50-7.50 (165.1-190.5) ; 
wing 4.70 (119.4) ; tail 2.20 (55.9) ; bill .48 (12.2); tarsus .87 (22.1). 
Recognition Marks.—Sparrow size, but appearing larger; much paler above 
than other species; breast band incomplete. 
Nesting.—Not definitely known to breed in Ohio. “Eggs, 3 to 4, creamy 
white, finely spotted or speckled with chocolate.” Avy. size, 1.24 x .95 (31.5 x 
24.1) (Chapman). 
General Range.—Kastern North America breeding from the coast of Vir- 
ginia northward to Newfoundland; in winter, West Indies. 
Range in Ohio.—Not common migrant on Lake Erie; rare or casual in the 
interior. Is conjectured to have bred near Lake Erie. 
IT is not difficult to distinguish this bird by the generally lighter tone 
of its plumage, and by its incomplete collar; but to say that it differs thus 
and so in habit from other small Plovers,—that is a task to which very few 
are equal, and one which the author must modestly disclaim. This Plover 
enjoys a more southerly distribution than do the other species, and is even 
more largely confined to the sea-coasts and the shores of the larger bodies 
oi water. It is almost never found along streams and ponds in the interior, 
and is no longer commonly seen on the Lake Erie shore. Years ago Mr. 
Winslow surmised that the bird bred in the vicinity of Cleveland, and it is 
known to have done so on Lake Michigan. Because of its southern range 
it has felt more keenly the unequal struggle against the white burden-bearer, 
and unless better counsels prevail against the senseless lust for its thimbleful 
of meat, we shall have to record its extinction at no very distant date. 
Rev. J. H. Langille has observed this bird more accurately perhaps 
than anyone else in recent times. He says, “The Piping Plover cannot be 
called a ‘whistler,’ or even a ‘piper, in an ordinary sense. Its tone has 
a particularly striking and musical quality. Oweep, queep, queep-o, or peep, 
peep, peep-lo, each syllable being uttered with a separate, distinct, and some- 
