250 Henshaw, Migration of the Pacific Plover. [july 



once seen two such flocks start from the same point, the one follow- 

 ing the other after an hour's interval." (Fauna Hawaiiensis, 

 Vol. I, pt. iv, p. 449, 1903.) 



It is interesting to note that plover are occasionally sighted from 

 passing ships. Naturally they attract little attention and never 

 are recorded in the ship's log. I found one ship captain, however, 

 who remembered to have seen a flock of plover passing north in 

 spring. The date was uncertain but the ship was about midway 

 between San Francisco and Hawaii, and the plover were steering a 

 course which would carry them to the neighborhood of the Aleutians. 



Where data are so scarce and difficult to obtain it is worth noting, 

 as bearing on the season and course of the spring migration of 

 island birds, that Townsend captured a Pacific Plover, which 

 boarded the 'Albatross' May 19, 1890, when 600 miles south of 

 Kadiak. This bird was probably an island migrant nearing the 

 end of its long flight. Elliott, also, speaking of the turnstone, states 

 that he " met with it at sea 700 miles from the nearest land, flying 

 northwest towards the Aleutian Islands, my ship being SOO miles 

 west of the Straits of Fuca." 



Physical condition of spring migrants. — During the last two 

 months of their stay in the islands both the migrating plover and 

 turnstones get very fat, and it is probable that individuals that are 

 not in good condition do not attempt the flight, or if they do, do not 

 survive the attempt. Towards April most plover seem to be in full 

 breeding plumage, and I feel sure that none of the birds assuming 

 the breeding dress remain behind, unless sick or wounded. There 

 is, however, a small contingent, both of plover and turnstones, that 

 summer in the islands, and these appear to consist wholly of imma- 

 ture individuals, which, as a rule, are thin and not in good trim. 



Speed of migrating Plover. — The migration of plover over a 

 wide ocean involves two factors: (1) Ability to go without food for 

 the time necessarily consumed in the flight. (2) Ability to make 

 the journey without resting and yet not overtax the physical powers. 

 As stated above, apparently all the migrating birds in spring are 

 in good order, and some of them, especially the males, are exceed- 

 ingly fat. They are thus in condition to exert their utmost powers 

 for a considerable period and to do without food. I know of no 

 actual tests of the speed of plover. From my own observations 



