130 



NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS EGGS. 



277. Piping Plover. JEgialitis meloda. 



Range. Eastern North America, chiefly along the Atlantic coast, breeding 

 from the Carolinas north to Newfoundland. 



A handsome little bird, with a black crescent on each side of neck, a small 

 black patch on top of the head, and without any black on the lores or ear cov- 

 erts. It is the lightest colored of any of the eastern Plovers. Length, 7 inches. 

 They lay their eggs upon the sandy beaches in slight, and generally unlined, 

 hollows. The eggs have a pale clay colored ground and are sparsely specked 

 with small black dots. Size 1.25 x 1.00. 



27 7a. Belted Piping Plover. JEgialitis meloda circumcincta. 



Range. Interior of North America, breeding from Illinois to Manitoba. 



This subspecies is like the last, except that the two 

 black crescents on the sides meet in front to form a 

 breast band. They have the same pleasing, mellow 

 whistle of the eastern form, and which gives them 

 their name. Their nesting habits are the same as 

 the last, except of course, that they nest on the beaches 

 of inland ponds and lakes. The eggs cannot be dis- 

 tinguished from those of the common Piping Plover. 

 Data. Benson Co., N. D., May 26, 1901. Nest a 

 pebble lined depression in a strip of gravel shingle 

 along the shore of Devil's Lake. The sitting bird 

 ran away when we were fifty yards from the nest, but 

 stealthily returned while watched from a distance. 

 Collector, Eugene S. Rolfe. 



[Clay color. 



278. Snowy Plover. JEgialitis nivosa. 



Range. Breeds along the Pacific coast of the United States, and from Texas 

 to Manitoba in the interior. Winters on the California coast and south to Chili. 



Snowy Plovers are very much like the Piping, but 

 are smaller (length 6.5 inches), have a longer and 

 more slender bill, and have a small black patch on 

 the side of head. It is the palest colored of the Plovers. 

 Large numbers of them nest along the Pacific coast 

 and in Texas; north of Texas, in the interior, they 

 are locally distributed. The eggs are pale clay color, 

 marked with small scratchy dots of black. Size 1.20 

 x .90. Data. Newport Beach, California, May 1, 1897. 

 Nest a hollow in the sand, a short distance above 

 high water; lined with broken shell. Collector, 

 Evan Davis. 



[Pale buff.] 



[279.] Mongolian Plover. JEgialitis mongola. 



An inhabitant of the Old World, awarded a place in our avifauna because of 

 its accidental occurrence at Alaska. 



