206 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA. 



Breeding Notes. — This bird is to be met with in those parts of 

 Ontario that are in any way adapted to its habits. Its favourite 

 haunts are rough pastures with here and there a few scrubby bushes 

 scattered about; if there are a few stones and gravel, so much th^ 

 better; the birds take kindly to such spots. I meet with a few pairs 

 of this species every year, and notice that they breed comparatively 

 early, the full complement of four eggs sometimes being laid as early 

 as the 26th of April. I have found a number of their eggs, and 

 notice that for a nesting place they usually choose a small stony or 

 gravelly patch in a pasture ; once I found a nest among small stones 

 and rock close to a quarry, where the year before I had taken two 

 nighthawk's eggs. (Rev. C. J. Young.) The killdeer plover breeds 

 in small numbers all over western Ontario. It lays four eggs, which 

 are so placed as to be very difficult of discovery. (W. Saunders.) 

 This species nests in the gravel at the margin of lakes and ponds, 

 also on bare ground on the prairie and in ploughed fields throughout 

 the whole prairie region. The nest is a hole in the gravel or ground, 

 usually not far from water. Eggs, four, always standing upon the 

 small end in the nest. (W. Spreadborough.) One set of four eggs, 

 taken near Ottawa, 30th May, 1900, was on a stump, level with the 

 ground. The nest consisted of small pieces of the rotten wood of 

 the stump. Another set of four eggs in a nest made of lichens and 

 small bits of stones, was found on a large rock at Britannia, Ont., 

 June loth, 1900. (Garneau.) 



CXIX. ^GIALITIS BoiE. 1822. 

 274. Semiplmated Plover. 



JSgialitis semipalmata Bonap. 1838. 



This species is a summer resident in Newfoundland, Labrador 

 and the islands in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, breeding more or less 

 abundantly. In Nova Scotia it has been found breeding on Seal 

 island, Yarmouth county, by Tufts and on Sable island by Saunders. 

 In New Brunswick, Prince Edward island and Quebec it is reported 

 as a migrant only; yet, as Mr. Young shows, it breeds in Ontario, 

 and doubtless in some of the other provinces also. In Manitoba and 

 eastern Saskatchewan it is a common migrant, and breeds sparingly. 

 The writer saw young birds of this species at the salt springs at the 

 head of Lake Winnipegosis on 22nd July, 1881. 



