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THE PIPING PLOVER. 



Charadrius melodus, Ord. 



PLATE CCXX. Male and Female. 



During the spring and summer months, this pretty httle Plover is 

 found on the sandy beaches of our extensive coasts, from the southern 

 point of the Floridas to the confines of Maine. As you proceed towards 

 Labrador, you find it in every suitable place, as far as the Magdeleine 

 Islands, on the sands of which I saw many that were paired and had eggs 

 on the 11th of June 1833. It breeds on all parts of the eastern coast of 

 the United States, wherever the locality is adapted to its habits. On the 

 3d of May, this bird was found with eggs on the Keys of the Floridas ; 

 about a month later, you may meet with it in the States of Maryland, 

 New Jersey, and New York. Those which leave the south at the ap- 

 proach of spring, return to it about October : and during the whole win- 

 ter you may find them on the sandy beaches, from South Carolina to the 

 western coast of the Floridas. The species, therefore, may be considered 

 as resident with us. 



While migrating eastward, the Piping Plovers proceed in pairs ; and 

 should one of these on its way find a convenient place for breeding, and 

 remain there, several others are often induced to take up their abode in 

 the neighbourhood. In autumn, they go in flocks of twenty or thirty in- 

 dividuals, and at times associate with other species, particularly the Turn- 

 stone, in whose company I have found them abundantly on the coast of 

 Florida, in the winter months. They never proceed to any distance in- 

 land, even along the sandy margins of our largest rivers ; nor are they seen 

 along very rocky shores or places covered with deep mud. 



The favourite breeding stations of this species are low islands, mostly 

 covered with drifting sand, having a scanty vegetation, and not liable to 

 inundation. In such a place many pairs may be found, with nests thirty 

 or forty yards apart. The nest is sometimes placed at the foot of a tuft 

 of withered grass, at other times in an exposed situation. A cavity is 

 merely scooped out in the soil, and there are deposited in it four eggs, 

 which are in a great measure hatched by the heat which the sand acquires 

 under the influence of a summer sun ; but in rough weather, and always 



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