THE BELTED PIPING PLOVER. 



{^"E^ialitis meloda cir cum cine ta.^ 



The range of the greater number of 

 the Belted Piping Plovers is the Missis- 

 sippi Valley, though they are occasion- 

 ally seen as far to the eastward as the 

 Atlantic coast. Their breeding range 

 extends from Northern Illinois and Ne- 

 braska northward to Lake Winnipeg 

 and "eastward to the Magdalen and 

 Sable Islands." Mr. Dawson records 

 the finding of their nests in Ohio on the 

 shore of Lake Erie in June, 1903. They 

 winter chiefly south of the United 

 States. The family of plovers {Chara- 

 driidae) contains one hundred species 

 which, during the breeding season, are 

 quite well distributed throughout the 

 world. While their habits in a general 

 way resemble those of the snipes, they 

 do not feed in the same manner. Their 

 food is obtained from the surface as 

 their bills are short and stout and not 

 fitted for probing. Probably for this 

 reason they do not frequent shallow 

 pofids and the wet margins of streams, 

 as do the snipes, but rather they inhabit 

 meadows and sandy areas. They run 

 swiftly and in a most graceful manner 

 over the ground. But eight of the spe- 

 cies belonging to the family are found 

 in North America. 



The Belted Piping Plovers are also 

 called Ringed Piping Plovers and White 

 Ring-necks and are so popular with 

 hunters and collectors that they have 

 been driven from some localities. My 

 own observations of their habits have 

 been made on the shores of Lake Mich- 

 igan in the vicinity of Chicago where 

 they have at times been quite common, 

 and I have found that their habits are 

 similar in other localities. At the pres- 

 ent time, there are twelve or fifteen pairs 

 nesting in an isolated small area of this 

 region, and I believe that they return 

 each season and if the site is not found 

 by unscrupulous collectors that they 

 may eventually become abundant. In 

 1876 Mr. IC. W. Nelson found them to 

 be common summer residents along the 



shore of Lake Michigan in northeastern 

 Illinois. He also found them breeding 

 as early as the last of the month of 

 April. My observations would indicate 

 that they are now breeding at a much 

 later date, for I have never found them 

 nesting before the first of June, and I 

 have seen both eggs and young from 

 June to the first of August. 



I have noticed that in the vicinity of 

 the southern end of Lake Michigan the 

 Belted Piping Plovers arrive in strag- 

 gling pairs from the last of April until 

 about the middle of May. Seemingly 

 they have already mated and unlike the 

 other beach birds which mingle indis- 

 criminately, they seek such seclusions as 

 the narrow beaches afford. Fortunate- 

 ly the light color of their plumage pro- 

 tects them as there is not a strong con- 

 trast between it and the light-colored 

 sand. Their soft notes also do not read- 

 ily attract attention. 



Their nests are only a shallow depres- 

 sion in the sand and their four eggs are 

 so colored and speckled as to well imi- 

 tate the sand in which they rest. In 

 the locality of which I have spoken, the 

 nests are placed well back from the 

 water and in the fine sand between the 

 dunes and the shore. The young birds 

 when able to leave the nest are bright 

 and very interesting little chaps, and 

 their parents are affectionate and faith- 

 ful in caring for them. The nest is usu- 

 ally surrounded by a few small bones 

 and light-colored pebbles. 



Mr. Dawson has given the following- 

 description, in his "Birds of Ohio," of a 

 male which entertained his mate with a 

 flight song. "He would circle round 

 and round with quivering wings, de- 

 scending curves a hundred feet or so in 

 diameter, and whistling the while a pro- 

 longed soft note with a rising inflec- 

 tion." The nest of this pair was after- 

 wards located by Mr. Dawson and his 

 colleagues. 



Frank 1\[ori.i:v \\'oonRUFK. 



ITiS 



