490 THE PIPING PLOVER. 



No. 222. 



PIPING PLOVER. 



A. O. U. No. 277. ^gialitis meloda (Ord.). 



Description. — Adult male in summer : Upper parts pale brownish gray, the 

 forecrown black and a black band on the side of the breast, not meeting its fellow 

 in front or behind ; a band on forehead, a cervical collar continuous with throat, 

 and remaining under parts, pure white ; tail fuscous, becoming white laterally ; 

 primaries dusky with partially white shafts, and corresponding white spaces cen- 

 trally on webs ; greater coverts and secondaries mostly white ; bill yellow or orange 

 at base, blackening toward tip. Adult female, and male in winter: Similar, but 

 black of crown and sides of breast reduced to brownish gray. Young : Similar, 

 but feathers of upper parts edged with whitish. Length 6.50-7.50 (165.1-190.5) ; 

 wing 4.70 (119.4) ; tail 2.20 (55.9) ; bill .48 (12.2) ; tarsus .87 (22.1). 



Recognition Marks. — Sparrow size, but appearing larger ; much paler above 

 than other species ; breast band incomplete. 



Nesting. — Not definitely known to breed in Ohio. "Eggs, 3 to 4, creamy 

 white, finely spotted or speckled with chocolate." Av. size, 1.24 x .95 (31.5 x 

 24.1) (Chapman). 



General Range. — Eastern North America breeding from the coast of Vir- 

 ginia northward to Newfoundland; in winter. West Indies. 



Range in Oliio. — Not common migrant on Lake Erie; rare or casual in the 

 interior. Is conjectured to have bred near Lake Erie. 



IT is not difficult to distinguish this bird by the generally lighter tone 

 of its plumage, and by its incomplete collar; but tO' say that it differs thus 

 and so in habit from other small Plovers, — that is a task to which very few 

 are equal, and one which the author must modestly disclaim. This Plover 

 enjoys a more southerly distribution than do the other species, and is even 

 more largely confined to the sea-coasts and the shores of the larger bodies 

 of water. It is almost never found along streams and ponds in the interior, 

 and is nO' longer commonly seen on the Lal<e Erie shore. Years ago Mr. 

 Winslow surmised that the bird bred in the vicinity of Cleveland, and it is 

 known to have done so on Lake Michigan. Because of its southern range 

 it has felt more keenly the unequal struggle against the white burden-bearer, 

 and unless better counsels prevail against the senseless lust for its thimbleful 

 of meat, we shall have to record its extinction at nO' very distant date. 



Rev. J. H. Langille has observed this bird more accurately perhaps 

 than anyone else in recent times. He says, "The Piping Plover cannot be 

 called a 'whistler," nor even a 'piper,' in an ordinary sense. Its tone has 

 a i^articularly striking and musical quality. Queep, queep, queep-o, or peep, 

 peep, peep-lo, each syllable being uttered with a separate, distinct, and some- 



