Plovers 



than sandpipers, it is chiefly when alarmed that two plaintive, 

 sweet, but sometimes sharp notes escape them, whereas sand- 

 pipers keep up their cheerful peep, peep, under all circumstances. 

 Real danger summons the scattered flocks of ring-necks to wing 

 into a compact mass that moves as if swayed by one mind ; but like 

 most birds that nest too far north to become acquainted with 

 murderous men, these gentle, confiding little plovers suspect no 

 evil intentions and rarely fly away. Running to hide by squat- 

 ting behind tufts of beach grass stills their small fears. 



In the interior, for an inland route is followed as well as a 

 coastwise one, the ring-neck runs about the margins of small lakes 

 or ponds, rivers and marshes, everywhere looking for worms, 

 small bits of shell fish, eggs of fish, and insects; always alert and 

 busy and hungry. General Greeley found these plovers still 

 nesting in Grinnell Land early in July; yet by the end of the 

 month stragglers from large flocks begin to arrive in the United 

 States — a little journey to try the wings of fledgelings en route to 

 Brazil. It is said the male arranges the small pear shaped buff 

 eggs, spotted with chocolate, with the pointed end toward the cen- 

 tre of the depression in the ground that answers as nest, the bet- 

 ter to cover all four with his breast, for it is he who does most, if 

 not all, of the incubating. Greenlanders, who have a longer 

 opportunity to study this interesting little bird, say that it claps 

 its wings before a storm and becomes strangely excited; but 

 although it has the dainty habit of lifting its wings high above 

 its back till they meet, on alighting, no excited clapping of them 

 has been recorded here. This is the most abundant and most 

 widely distributed of the ring-necks. 



Piping Plover 



(/^ialitis melodaj 



Called also : PALE RING-NECK 



Length — 7 inches. A trifle larger than the English sparrow. 

 Male and Female — Upper parts very pale ash; forehead, ring 



around neck, and under parts white; front of the crown 



and a link of incomplete collar either side of breast, black;. 



inner tail feathers dusky, the outer ones becoming white. 



In winter plumage the black is replaced by brownish ash. 



245 



