^"'i9l6 ] Nichols and Harper, Long Island Shore Birds. 251 



out over the stool, disregarding the blind and its occupants. Presently a 

 Greater Yellowlegs passed by, and our bird followed it to a neighboring 

 mud-flat. But after an interval of some twenty minutes, apparently the 

 same Yellowlegs returned, and again perched on its favorite mud-lump. 

 When we had secured a number of photographs, we tried to induce the bird 

 to take wing, but the noises and movements we made were unavailing until 

 it slipped off the lump by accident, and then departed. 



The ordinary whistle of this species resembles that of the Greater Yellow- 

 legs, but is not quite so loud and clear. It is given in a series of two or 

 singly, wheu-ivheu or ivheit — seldom in a series of three or more, as is the 

 larger bird's call. Flocking birds utter a short wip, which is frequently 

 repeated, and sometimes runs into a series. There is also a musical 

 ' summons ' call, too-whee, too-whee, too-whee, almost identical with that of 

 the Greater Yellowlegs, but apparently not so loud. Once a flock of about 

 a dozen birds, just after passing high over our blind, let loose a succession 

 of these notes, as if to entice their inanimate counterparts on the marsh to 

 join them. 



In their feeding habits and choice of haunts, the two species of Yellow- 

 legs are very much alike. So far as we have observed, they do not drill 

 in the mud or sand in the manner of a Krieker, Oxeye, or Sanderling, but 

 deftly snatch up their food with thrusts of their long bills, or occa.sionally 

 search out small morsels by swinging their bills from side to side through 

 shallow water. 



Squatarola squatarola. Black-bellied Plover; Blackbreast; 

 Bullhead (juv.). — Though no longer occurring in the abundance of former 

 days, this strikingly handsome plover is still a rather common transient on 

 Long Island. The migi-ation records extend from April 30, 1902 (Mon- 

 tauk, Scott), to June 17 (Rockaway, Braislin), and from July 1, 1903 

 (Quogue, Kobbe), to November 12, 1911 (Jones Beach, Griscom). It is 

 usually present on the southward migration from the first week of August 

 to the middle of October, the bulk of the flight taking place in late August 

 and September. Most of the spring bii-ds are seen from the middle to 

 the latter part of May. 



The Blackbreast seeks its food at low tide on the mud-flats and the 

 sandy beaches, where it may be distinguished from afar among the Turn- 

 stones, Ringnecks, and Sanderlings, that share with it these habitats. 

 With each turn of the tide the plovers fly about more actively, passing to 

 and fro between their feeding grounds and the higher and drier portions 

 of the marshes and shoals, where they remain rather quietly during the 

 period of high water. At times they also alight on the wet marsh. 



Nowadays on Long Island they travel generally in small bands of three 

 or four to a dozen individuals; we have, however, observed a flock of as 

 many as 150 near Freeport on the spring migration, and Mr. Henry Thurs- 

 ton reports a flock of about 800 in the same locality on May 30, 1913. 



As a rule, other species of shore birds, as well as decoys, have no great 

 attraction for these wary and self-sufficient plovers. A common sight, 



