Shore-bird Shooting 467 



ring ; a band from the base of the bill, beneath the eye, and a 

 wide band in front, above the white band, black ; upper parts, 

 grayish brown ; quills, dark with shafts white ; greater coverts, 

 tipped with white ; middle tail feathers, brown with a wide sub- 

 terminal dark band and narrowly tipped with white ; two outer 

 tail feathers, white ; others, intermediate, broadly tipped with 

 white ; bill, black with orange base ; legs and feet, grayish ; a 

 web between the outer toes and the middle ones, reaching to 

 the second joint ; iris, brown. 



Female — Similar in plumage, but somewhat lighter. In the young, 

 the black is replaced by grayish brown, and the upper parts are 

 lighter. 



Downy young — Upper parts, pale grayish brown, finely mottled with 

 black ; forehead, cream color ; broad band around neck, last 

 joint of wing, and lower parts, white ; line from bill encircling 

 crown, and spot before eye and on side of chest, black ; fore- 

 head, cream color. 



Measurements — Length, 7 inches; wing, 4.75 inches; culmen, .50 

 inch ; tarsus, 1 inch. 



Eggs — Four in number ; ground color, drab, with blotches of black ; 

 measure 1.20 by .95 inches. 



Habitat — Breeds from Sable Island, the Gulf of St. Lawrence 

 (possibly Grand Manan), Ontario, northern Manitoba, and As- 

 siniboia, north to Greenland, Cumberland, Fort Anderson, and 

 the interior of Alaska; most abundant near the Atlantic Coast. 

 Winters from the West Indies, Florida, Louisiana, and Lower 

 California, south to Patagonia, Chili, and the Galapagos, some 

 reaching South America by July 7. In migrations most abun- 

 dant on the Atlantic Coast, but not rare in the interior or on 

 the Pacific Coast south of the Aleutian Islands. Occurs also 

 in northeastern Siberia, Greenland, and Bermuda. 



A social, friendly little plover, well known 

 along our coast, where its sudden sharp note has 

 made many a gunner start in the expectation of 

 something bigger, only to see a ring-neck dart 

 over his decoys. This species associates com- 



