74 FEATHERED GAME 
ually contains four drab or clay-colored eggs 
with dark brown splashes upon them. The 
nesting season begins about the first to the mid- 
dle of May, and by August, or even earlier, 
straggling birds have begun their wanderings, 
moving lazily and comfortably from place to 
place along-shore. Often parties of them lin- 
ger in our borders until fairly ‘‘warned out’’ 
by the frosts of approaching winter. 
These are more maritime than are the golden 
plovers, which mainly make their migrations 
overland. The Beetleheads seem to prefer the 
sea-coasts for their travels, it may be for safety, 
perhaps also for the certainty of abundant 
food. They are sometimes fairly numerous in- 
land during the fall months, making ‘‘short 
cuts,’’? maybe, in order to favor the younger 
travellers. Northern and eastern New Eng- 
land is not so well acquainted with this bird, 
the greater part of the flights, both spring and 
fall, passing us by in a direct course over the 
water between the southern cape of Nova Sco- 
tia and Cape Cod. Comparatively few of the 
migrant waders visit the coast line between 
these points. The few that do so are mostly 
birds which have bred within our borders or 
