166 PR.ECOCIAL aRALLATORES — LIMICOLyE. 



ing waves down, and scurrying back as they come rolling in again. On the 7th of 

 July he found two broods of young, which had left the nests but a few hours before. 

 They were clothed in down, and were yet so weak as scarcely to be able to stand. 

 Subsequently he noticed quite a number of nests containing eggs. The spot selected 

 for a breeding-ground was a strip of bare white sand, a hundred yards from the 

 ocean. In every instance but one the eggs were dej)osited in a slight hollow scratched 

 in the sand, without lining of any sort. In the exceptional case the owners had 

 selected from along the shore little Ijits of pearly nacre, remnants of broken sea- 

 shells, and upon a smooth lining of this material had placed their treasures. The 

 effect of the richly colored eggs as they lay on their cushion of shining mother-of- 

 pearl is said to have been very pleasing. Mr. Henshaw adils, that so slight was the 

 contrast between the eggs and the drifted sand aliout them, that they would be diflS.- 

 cult enough to hnd, were it not for the tracks about the nests. As the birds came to 

 relieve their mates in sitting or to bring tliem food, they alighted near the nest, and 

 thus for a little distance around each one was a series of tracks converging to a com- 

 mon centre, which betrayed their secret. Great was the alarm of the colony as soon 

 as his presence was known. They gathered into little knots, following him at a dis- 

 tance with low sorrowful cries. When her nest was seen to be really discovered, 

 the female would fly close by him and make use of all the arts which birds of this 

 kind know so well how to employ on like occasions. ^A'ith wings drooping and trail- 

 ing on the sand, she would move in front till his attention was secured, and would 

 then fall hel^jlessly down, and, burying her breast in the sand, present the very pic- 

 ture of despair and woe, while the male bird and the other pairs expressed their sym- 

 pathy by loud cries. The full nest complement is said to have been three eggs ; 

 and in no instance were more found. He describes them as of a light clay color, 

 marked with numerous blotches and scratchy splashes of black, in size and appear- 

 ance approaching most closely to those of ^E. mcloda, but easily to be distinguished 

 by the different style of -the sjjotting. He gives their greatest length as 1.30 ; their 

 least, 1.22 ; and their diameter as varying from .89 to .95. 



Dr. Cooper speaks of these birds as being quite common along the sandy beaches 

 of the southern part of California, but becoming rather rare near San Francisco, 

 although found north as far as Cape Mendocino. They did not seeili to jnigrate at 

 any particular season, but were found at all times, in small parties, running over the 

 drifted sand or along the edge of the water, catching insects and Crustacea. In the 

 spring they are less gregarious, and the females retire to lay their eggs, which are 

 found just above the edge of the highest water-marks, deposited in slight depressions 

 in the sand, sometimes lined with fragments of shells. The eggs are laid from April 

 15th to July .3()th, the latter being probably a second brood. They are large for the 

 size of the bird, measuring 1.22 inches by .92, and have a brownish-white ground, 

 thickly blotched and speckled with blackish-brown marks resembling Turkish let- 

 ters. In one instance, after an extremely high tide at night, Dr. Cooper foiand in 

 the early morning four eggs partly hatched in a depression just made in the wet 

 sand, at the very top of the wave-flow. They must have been moved there by the 

 old birds from another nest that morning. Their dampness could hardly have been 

 favorable for their hatching, thougli soon to be dried l)y the sun, the heat of which 

 saves these birds much of the trouble of sitting. Dr. Cooper has never heard this 

 bird utter any sound. 



Mr. Ridgway characterizes this species as a graceful little Plover, and states that 

 though previously known only from the Pacific Eegion, he found it very abundant 

 in the neighborhood of the soutlieastern shore of Great Salt Lake. On the bare 



