AMERICAN RING PLOVER. 257 
observation to all the members of my party. As soon as one of us was 
noticed by a Ring Plover, it would at once stand still and become si- 
lent. If we did the same, it continued, and seldom failed to wear out 
our patience. If we advanced, it would lower itself and squat on the 
moss or bare rock until approached, when it would suddenly rise on its 
feet, droop its wings, depress its head, and run with great speed to a 
considerable distance, uttering all the while a low rolling and querulous 
ery, very pleasing to the ear. On being surprised when in charge of 
their young, they would open their wings to the full extent, and beat 
the ground with their extremities, as if unable to rise. If pursued, 
they allowed us to come within a few feet, then took flight, and at- 
tempted to decoy us away from their young, which lay so close that we 
very seldom discovered them, but which, on being traced, ran swiftly 
off, uttering a plaintive peep often repeated, that never failed to bring 
their parents to their aid. At Labrador, the Ring Plover begins to 
breed in the beginning of June. On the 2d of July, I procured seve- 
ral young birds apparently about a week old ; they ran briskly to avoid 
us, and concealed themselves so closely by squatting, that it was very 
difficult to discover them even when only a few feet distant. 
This species, like the Piping Plover, Charadrius melodus, forms no 
nest ; and whilst the latter scoops a place in the sand for its eggs, the 
Ring Plover forms a similar cavity in the moss, in a place sheltered 
from the north winds, and exposed to the full rays of the sun, usually 
near the margins of small ponds formed by the melting of the snow, 
and surrounded by short grass. Some of these pools are found on the 
tops of the highest rocks of that country. The eggs, like those of all 
the family, are four, and placed with the small ends together. They 
are broad at the larger end, rather sharp at the other, measure 11 inch 
in length, 7} inches in their greatest breadth, are of a dull yellowish 
colour, irregularly blotched and spotted all over with dark brown of 
different tints. The young are at first of a yellowish-grey colour, pret- 
tily marked with darker spots on the shoulders and rump. As soon as 
their parents dismissed them, they were observed searching for food 
among the drying cod-fish, and along the beaches. 
By the 12th of August, all the individuals which had bred in La- 
brador and Newfoundland, had taken their departure, migrating south- 
ward in company with the Phalaropes and Schintz’s Sandpipers. 
Many of these birds proceed by our great lakes and rivers, they being 
VOL. IV. R 
