■■m 



134 NESTS AND EGGS OF 



Least Tern, nesting very much in the same manner. The eggs are de- 

 posited in a cavity of the loose pebbles or shells of the beach ; they are 

 usually three in number. The ground color is a pale olive-drab or 

 clay-colored, some having a greenish tint, marked all over with black- 

 ish-brown, well defined spots, small splashes and fine dots. Sizes from 

 1.30 to 1.45 long by i.oo to 1.05 broad. A set in Mr. Perry's cabinet 

 measures as follows : 1.37 x .99, 1.82 x .98, 1.40 x i. 00. 



281. ^glalitls montana (Towns.) [523.] 



Mountain Plover. 



Hab. Western North America, east to the Great Plains; accidental in Florida. 



More properly called Prairie Plover, but it seems to have been 

 badly named, for it certainly is a prairie bird, inhabiting the most 

 barren prairies, as well as the watered regions of the United States, 

 from the plains to the Pacific. It can readily be recognized by its large 

 size, the lack of rings on the breast, with the uniform pale, yellowish- 

 brown above. It is quite independent of water, and is said to be not 

 the least aquatic, even on the Pacific coast; it frequents the plain, 

 never the marsh or beach. Nests anywhere on the open prairie in 

 June and July. 



The eggs are usually three in number, olive-drab, with a brown 

 shade, finely and thickly dotted with very dark brown and black, the 

 markings not larger than a pin's head; sizes from 1.40 to 1.50 long by 

 1. 10 to 1. 12 broad. 



283. Arenaria interpres (Linn.) [509.J 



Turnstone. 



Hab. Entirely cosmopolitan, chiefly along the sea-coasts. Breeds in high northern latitudes. 



The common Turnstone is widely distributed in the breeding sea- 

 son throughout the northern portions of both continents, and wanders 

 southward along the sea-coasts of all countries. In America it breeds 

 commonly in the Barren Lands of the Arctic coasts and the Anderson 

 River districts, on the islands of Franklin and Liverpool Bays, nesting 

 in July. In the Hudson's Bay country the eggs are laid in June ; the 

 nest is nothing but a hollow scratched in the earth, lined with bits of 

 grass. It is known by various names, " Brant Bird," " Bead Bird," 

 " Horse-foot Snipe," and from its varigated colors, " Calico-back." 



The eggs are greenish-ash, spotted, blotched and dotted irregularly 

 and thickly with yellowish and umber brown ; two to four ; abruptly 

 pyriform in shape, and average 1.58 x 1.15. 



A set of four eggs of this species is in the cabinet of Captain B. F. 

 Goss. These were taken on the Yukon River, in Alaska. The nest 

 was a slight depression on the ground. The eggs are greenish-drab. 



