650 ANNUAL EEPOET SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1910. 



tests of the speed of plover. From my own observations I believe 

 that when not fatigued the plover can easily enough fly 50 to 75 miles 

 an hour, but it is doubtful if such speed can be maintained for any 

 great length of time. I am confident, however, that a speed of 40 

 miles an hour is well within the bird's powers. At this rate the flight 

 from Hawaii to the Aleutians, a distance of about 2,000 miles, would 

 consume a little more than two days; or, allowing a speed of 35 miles 

 an hour, the time occupied would be two days, nine hours. At first 

 thought it does not seem possible for plover to fly continuously for so 

 many hours without rest and food ; yet the above statement can not 

 be far from the truth. If the birds fly faster, the journey requires 

 less time but the expenditure of more vital force; if slower, they 

 husband strength at the cost of time. In either event the result 

 would be about the same. Of the extreme limit of the plover's en- 

 durance in continuous flight we know nothing; nor do we know what 

 proportion of the birds that start across the ocean are successful in 

 making the flight. That the effort is too much for many individuals 

 is hardly to be doubted, especially for young of the j^ear, which are 

 comparatively weak and unpracticed of wing. 



A leaf from the notebook of Dr. E. A. Mearns is of interest in this 

 connection. On the 9th of October, when on a transport bound for 

 San Francisco and one day out of Honolulu, Mearns noticed a lone 

 plover, which joined company with the ship for nearly two days. 

 On the 10th his notebook records that the bird was still circling 

 around and above the ship, as if designing to come aboard. Some- 

 times it flew close alongside and whistled j^laintively. Once it rose 

 very high in air and flew out of sight, probably trying to sight land 

 on which to rest, but it soon returned from its fruitless quest. At 

 5 p. m. on the 10th it seemed weak and tired, but was still flying 

 feebly alongside, its call notes continually growing fainter with 

 waning strength. It was lost sight of at dusk, and was never seen 

 again, but its fate is only too certain. 



It may seem remarkable that this tired wanderer apparently never 

 alighted on the water to rest. However, I recall only one instance 

 in which an unwounded plover has been known to alight on the 

 water and again take wing.^ In considering this question it must not 

 be forgotten that neither by birth nor habits is the plover a swimmer. 

 It is a true wader, and though, like all of its family, it can swim 

 when compelled to and can even alight on smooth water and again 

 take wing, it does so probably only in very exceptional instances, 

 and perhaps never for the purpose of resting when in migration. 



Could we assume that the particular individual noted by Mearns 

 made a direct course from the Aleutians to the point where inter- 



iRothchild, Avifauna of Laysan, pt. 1, xiv, 1893. 



