BIRDS FOUND ALONG THE BEACHES ‘79 
as far north as Cape Mendocino. It is abundant at 
Long Beach, San Pedro, and all along the sandy coast 
near Los Angeles. These Plovers are pretty, plump 
little birds, and trip unconcernedly at the water’s edge, 
picking up the food left by the retreating waves. If 
one is disturbed, it crouches flat on the sand, in a hollow 
if possible, trusting to protective coloring to escape 
notice. A. nest found near San Diego in April, con- 
tained, when discovered, three clay-covered eggs. When 
it was visited three hours later, two little ones had 
broken the shell and were crouched down like small 
gray stones. The third egg was sterile. The young 
were about the size of large walnuts and were the 
prettiest creatures imaginable. The next morning the 
nest was deserted, only the particles of eggshells scat- 
tered about told where it had been; but the mother 
bird was discovered with both chicks hiding behind a 
tuft of grass. No other nest was found nearer than 
two hundred feet, and it is doubtful whether the one 
found at that distance was really the nest of a Snowy 
Plover. 
This species has none of the dipping motions of the 
sandpiper, and is much plumper-looking, though not 
less trim than the sandpipers. Its call is a whistled 
“nleep, pleep,” somewhat between the note of a spotted 
sandpiper and that of a golden plover. 
