SHORE AND MARSH BIRDS. Plovers 



One of the commonest Plovers, or, in fact, of Shore-birds 

 in general, to be found along the beaches ; easily identified 

 by means of the complete neck ring, white upon dark and 

 dark upon light. 



Like the Sandpipers, they dance along the shore in rhythm 

 with the ebbing tides, leaving sharp footprints on the wet 

 sand. These footprints will also give you a key to the bird, 

 for they show that its feet are half-webbed or semipalmated, 

 from which it takes its specific name. 



I have only found these birds along the seashore, but 

 Samuels says that on their arrival in spring, small flocks 

 follow the course of large rivers, like the Connecticut. He 

 also found a single pair breeding on Muskeget, the famous ■ 

 haunt of Gulls, off the shore of Massachusetts. On their 

 return migration, these Plovers are shot down promiscuously 

 with the Sandpipers, with which they associate closely. 



Piping Plover : Mgialitxs meloda. 



Pale Ring-neck. 



Length : 6.50 inches. 



Male and Female : Above light gray. Coloured eye ring ; bill yellow 

 with black tip ; partial white collar on back of neck and a par- 

 tial dark band on throat. A black bar between the eyes. Be- 

 low white. Legs orange yellow. Female, the eye bar a pale 

 brown, and the neck rings merely spots. 



Season : A summer resident, but not common. 



Breeds : Northward from Virginia. 



Nest and Eggs : No real nest ; eggs 2-4, creamy or grayish, with brown 

 scratches or small spots ; laid on the sand. 



Bange : Eastern Province of North America ; in winter the West 

 Indies. 



This, the second of the Ring-neck Plovers, comes to us in 

 scattering flocks in late April, which a month later separate 

 into pairs. Samuels says that it sometimes strays into the 

 interior, and has been known to breed on the borders of 

 ponds twenty miles from the coast, but that in New Eng- 

 land it seldom wanders far from the shore, and prefers sand 



236 



