Todd : Birds of Erie and Presque Isle. 549 



birds, the young being found in pairs and small bunches around the 

 lake beach. I saw two such flocks in September, 1901, the first seen 

 to speak of in several years. The Golden Plover is seldom noted in 

 August, but on August 20, 1896, I shot one old bird. My latest fall 

 note is November 5 of the same year. ' ' Very few individuals of this 

 species came to our notice in 1900. The first was observed August 

 27, a specimen taken September 17, and one seen the following day — 

 all on the outside beach. The last record was that of a bird shot at 

 Crystal Point on September 25. Both birds secured were immature. In 

 1902 Mr. Simpson shot a specimen on September 27, and on Novem- 

 ber 18 saw three flying down the bay at some elevation, uttering their 

 peculiar whistle. 



81. Oxyechus vociferus. Killdeer Plover. 



Common as a summer resident, and among the first of the shore- 

 birds to move northward in the spring, arriving some time in March, 

 the exact date varying between March 8 (1898) and 28 (1896). It 

 is not so numerous at this season as many others, however. More- 

 over, it is practically certain that none breed on the Peninsula, as 

 such a noisy species as this is much in evidence daily on its nesting 

 grounds, and it was not thus observed. A female taken May 17 

 exhibited signs of breeding, but had evidently come from a distance. 

 The cultivated fields of the mainland afford more suitable nesting 

 facilities. "OnApril7, 1888, I found a single egg in a ploughed field. 

 From subsequent experience I think this must have been very early 

 nesting, as the next earliest record is for May 5, 1894, when a nest 

 with four eggs was discovered, while on June 25, 1899, I met w ' tn a ' 

 brood of young" (Bacon). It is in the fall migration that the 

 Killdeer gathers into flocks and visits the Peninsula in large numbers, 

 thronging the outside beach, often in company with other species, 

 noisy, restless, and suspicious. It was already present there August 

 22, 1900, and on September 8 there was a great flight of this species, 

 to the almost complete exclusion of all other shore-birds. After the 

 first week in October it was noticeably less common, but did not finally 

 disappear until November 12, when one was seen in Big Pond — the 

 only instance of its being met with about the ponds. Mr. Bacon notes 

 an individual seen as late as Thanksgiving Day, November 26, 1891. 



82. JEgialitis semipalmata. Semipalmated Plover. 



Save the Sanderling alone, the present species is perhaps the most 

 numerous of the transient shore-birds. May is the month when its 



