136 Birds of Colorado 
Habits.—This Plover is chiefly found about the dry, 
grassy prairies and mesas and also in sage-brush country, 
and is quite independent of the presence of water. It is 
a rather solitary bird, though after the breeding season 
may be met with in small parties of ten or twelve; it 
subsists chiefly on insects and especially locusts and grass- 
hoppers, of which it must destroy enormous numbers. 
It has a whistle-like note, reminding one of a Curlew 
according to Dille, and when disturbed or molested in 
the breeding season, has the power of shamming being 
crippled or wounded, and at the same time shrieks as 
if in great agony. The nest is a depression in the ground, 
sometimes lined with a few stray grasses, sometimes 
without lining ; it is situated on the dry prairie as a rule. 
The eggs, nearly always tour, are not so pointed as those 
of most Plovers; they are olive-drab, spotted and dotted 
especially at the larger end with shades of brown, but 
not blotched. They measure 1°45 x 1°10. Dille gives 
May 29th as the average date for fresh eggs in the 
plains ; it is perhaps a little later in the mountain parks, 
as Allen noticed newly-hatched young on July 28th in 
South Park. 
Family APHRIZIDZ. 
This family was first formed by Coues to contain the 
Surf-birds and Turnstones. They have a stout, rather 
short, bill, a scutellated tarsus and four toes; the 
anterior ones without webs. 
Genus ARENARIA, 
Bill moderate, conical and tapering, culmen about equal to tarsus ; 
no dertrum or swelling towards the tips of the mandibles ; tail of twelve 
feathers slightly rounded ; tarsus short, about equal to the middle toe 
and claw, with a few transverse scutes in front, otherwise reticulated ; 
hind toe present ; no webs. 
