162 HOW TO STUDY BIRDS 



willet is another large wader, with white bars on its 

 wings. Occasionally a Hudsonian curlew appears. 



Of the plovers, the little ring-neck or semipalmated 

 plover is by far the most common, to be found on 

 flats and beaches. The large black-bellied plover, 

 while not really rare, is too good eating to be abun- 

 dant, as it formerly was. It is especially fond of 

 muddy or sandy flats and is extremely shy. Its near 

 relative, the golden plover, is scarce now on the At- 

 lantic coast, as it has learned to migrate in the fall 

 from the Maritime Provinces straight south over the 

 ocean, to make its wonderful and famous flight to Ar- 

 gentine and Patagonia. Some, however, are de- 

 flected in to us in late August and September by 

 easterly winds or storms. During the autumn of 

 1909 more of them were observed and taken about 

 New Haven, Connecticut, than for many years, sug- 

 gesting that protective laws may be having real ef- 

 fect. 



The best way to see the shore-birds in these days 

 is to make a trip south in spring. Quite an army of 

 this tribe pass along the coast of the Carolinas. But 

 to include the golden plover, the trip should be to 

 the Louisiana coast, especially in the delta region of 

 the Mississippi River. For an autumn trip, and not 

 a very distant one either, try the east shore of Nova 

 Scotia, anywhere along the Cape Sable region. On 

 Cape Sable Island and the adjacent Barrington pas- 

 sage there are still fair numbers of shore-birds at times 

 in August and September. On the shores of New 



