THE BEETLEHEAD PLOVER 73 



where a moment since the flock was busily 

 feeding, and seeing them not, soon discovers 

 them two hundred yards away, apparently just 

 as ready to tease him as before. They seem 

 less suspicious of a boat, however, and will 

 sometimes permit a gunner to get within easy 

 range in this way. The smaller flocks in the 

 fall will decoy quite readily or come with eager 

 questionings to the mimicry of their whistling 

 note. 



By the middle of June they are nearly all on 

 their breeding grounds, mostly in those ice- 

 bound regions of the north, where the lonely 

 wastes for a few brief months are warmed by 

 the sun into a semblance of summer. Here are 

 the homes of the myriads of birds whose pass- 

 ing hosts spend a brief season in our land to 

 feed and rest from their journey ings. Among 

 these the Beetleheads are numbered, and in 

 such solitudes their young families are reared 

 and trained up to the strength needful for their 

 long flights. 



A shallow hole scooped out in the sand and 

 lined with dry grass and moss constitutes the 

 home of this, the finest of the plover family; 

 and the nest, when ready for the hatching, us- 



