1 88 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA. 



of Alaska. It is not uncommon on the islands off the coast, 

 and Turner speaks of it being taken on the Aleutian Islands. 

 Nelson says that on the Siberian Coast of Behring Sea the typi- 

 cal Asiatic form is common, and is of much rarer occurrence on 

 the Alaskan Coast, from the peninsula of Alaska north to Point 

 Barrow. 



C. iEGIALITIS BoiE. 1822. 



213. Killdeer Plover. 



(EgialiHs vocifera (Linn.) Bonap. 1838. 



This is a rare migrant in Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, New 

 Brunswick and Quebec. In Ontario it is much more common, and 

 breeds in suitable localities throughout the province. Throughout 

 Manitoba and the whole prairie country this bird breeds abun- 

 dantly. It is also common in the Rocky Mountains and British 

 Columbia, and breeds almost to the coast. Its northern limit is 

 very likely the sub-arctic forest, as it seems to prefer open plains 

 ■where brackish marshes are of frequent occurrence. 



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 the 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 stoney 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. i^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 grotand, 

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

 small end in the nest. {W. Spreadborough.) 



