' ig2o J General Notes. 583 



On July 6, 1920, I saw a Willet flying over the salt marshes at Pubinco, 

 two more on the same day at Wood's Harbor — these records were made 

 from the railway train — and on July 9, one at Barrington Passage, all 

 in southern Nova Scotia. On July 18, on the sand flats of Barrington 

 Bay, near Coffinscroft, I found a flock of ten Willets, and on July 25, at 

 the same place, Dr. Spencer Trotter and I counted twenty-six of these 

 birds. 



Dr. S. K. Palten, of Boston, formerly of Yarmouth, tells me that Willets 

 were shot in considerable numbers in the marshes at Comeau Hill, about 

 twelve miles southeast of Yarmouth, every year. He heard of twenty- 

 two being shot there in 1917. In 1919 some were shot and the offender 

 prosecuted and fined at Yarmouth under the Migratory Bird Convention 

 Law. 



Mr. Harrison F. Lewis, as will be seen by his note in this number, 

 has given the final proof of the Willets' still breeding in Nova Scotia by 

 the discovery of two nests with eggs. — Charles W. Townsend, M.D., 

 98 Pinckney St., Boston, Mass. 



Breeding of the Semipalmated Plover (Aegialitis semipalmata) in 

 Yarmouth County, Nova Scotia. — On June 14, 1920, at Cook's Beach, 

 at the mouth of the Chebogue River, Yarmouth County, Nova Scotia, 

 I found a nest and four eggs of the Semipalmated Plover {Aegialitis semi- 

 palmata (Bonap.)). The nest was a short distance above ordinary high- 

 tide mark, at a point where the beach consisted of smooth gray stones of 

 moderate size, among which had lodged enough soil to support a very 

 scanty growth of fine, short grass. The four eggs, which corresponded in 

 appearance with the description of the eggs of this species contained in 

 Chapman's "Handbook of Birds of Eastern North America," 1912 edi- 

 tion, lay, points mward, on a few bits of seaweed, in a slight, circular 

 depression, apparently made by the bird. They were wholly without 

 shelter, yet so well did they blend in appearance with their surroundings 

 that I had previously searched the beach carefully for three hours without 

 finding them. I finally discovered them by seeing the parent Plover run 

 to them and incubate them while I sat motionless beside some lobster- 

 traps which were piled on the beach a few rods away. After incubating 

 for about ten minutes, the Plover became uneasy, left the eggs, and, with 

 short runs and frequent pauses, repeatedly approached within eight feet 

 of me on the open beach, giving me the best of opportunities to see in 

 detail the characteristic markings of the species. I have been familiar 

 for many years with the appearance and notes of both the Semipalmated 

 Plover and the Piping Plover, and, under the circumstances, could make 

 no error in this identification. There were at least five pairs of Semi- 

 palmated Plovers at Cook's Beach on the day of my visit, all apparently 

 breeding there, but I found one nest only belonging to that species. The 

 nest and eggs were left untouched. 



The 1910 edition of the A. O. U. 'Check-List' says that this Plover 

 "breeds from Melville Island, Wellington Channel, and Cumberland 



