BIRDS OF THE SHORE AND MARSHES 215 



Semipalmated or Ring-necked Plover 



The killdeer, which is owe commonest plover, has a little 

 cousin scarcely larger than an EngUsh sparrow that is a 

 miniature of himself, except that the semipalmated (half- 

 webbed) or ring-necked plover has only one dark band 

 across the upper part of his white breast, while the killdeer 

 wears two black rings. This dainty httle beach bird has 

 brownish gray upper parts so Kke the color of wet sand, 

 that, as he runs along over it, just in advance of the froth- 

 ing ripples, he is in perfect harmony with his surroundings. 

 Relying upon that fact for protection, he will squat behind 

 a tuft of beach grass if you pass too near rather than risk 

 flight. 



When the tide is out, you may see the tiny forms of 

 these common ring-necks mingled with the ever-friendly 

 httle sandpipers on the exposed sand bars and wide beaches 

 where aU keep up a constant hunt for bits of shell fish, fish 

 eggs, and sand worms. Birds that have been hiding in the 

 marshes and sand dunes now trip a light measure over the 

 exposed sand bars and mud flats, leaving Kttle tracks that 

 may not be distinguished from those of the sand ox-eye or 

 semipalmated sandpiper that hunts with them, although 

 the plover has only three half-webbed toes. The small, 

 slightly elevated fourth toe of the ox-eye is only faintly evi- 

 dent at times in its tracks. 



Tiny forms chase out after the receding waves, running 

 in just in advance of the frothing ripples that do not quite 

 overtake them, although the plovers almost never spring 

 to wing as sandpipers do when a drenching threatens, but 

 place all their trust in their fleet legs. With such feet as 



