492 



THE BELTED PIPING PLOVER. 



Professor James H. Hine was doing the honors of the new biological labor- 

 atory at Cedar Point, our party of three came upon a strange Plover, as 

 he danced before the lapping waves on the neighboring shore. A hundred 



yards or so be- 

 low we sa\v an- 

 other, evidently 

 of the same spe- 

 cies, entertain- 

 ing his mate 

 with a flight 

 song. He would 

 circle round 

 and round with 

 quivering 

 wings, describ- 

 ing curves a 

 hundred feet or 

 so in diameter, 

 and whistling 

 the while a pro- 

 longed soft note 

 with a rising in- 

 flection. Pro- 

 fessor Jones 

 was detailed on 

 the case and 

 soon came back 

 reporting a nest 

 of four eggs, 

 that shown in 

 the accompany- 

 ing illustration. 

 He had con- 

 cealed himself 

 quietly in a 

 clump of wil- 

 lows, and 

 marked the fe- 

 male as she 



stole to her nest. The bird had settled once in the middle of the pathless 

 sand, but upon some sudden misgiving had scampered away again, without 

 the astute observer's suspecting that she had visited her eggs. Upon her 

 return, however, to the same spot, the truth became evident. 



^t4L*\bss& 



at Cedar Point. Photo by the Author. 



NEST AND EGGS OF THE BELTED PIPING PLOVER. 



