SNOWY PLOVER 477 



of which would have hatched in a day or two; while Chambers 

 (Willett, loc. cit.) found a single fresh egg at Ballona, August 2, 1903. 

 Extra high tides doubtless destroy many eggs, and this may account in 

 part for the prolongation of the nesting season, through repeated egg- 

 laying. Willett (loc. cit.) states that in southern California the eggs 

 are usually deposited between May 1 and June 15. From Monterey 

 northward to Humboldt Bay dates of nesting range from April 16 

 (Cooke, 1910, p. 93) to June 21 (Mailliard coll.). 



The Snowy Plover has been reported nesting at various points 

 along the California seacoast from Eureka, Humboldt County (sets 

 in Mailliard coll.), on the north, to Pacific Beach, San Diego County 

 (Ingersoll, 1895, p. 87) on the south; and it may be expected to 

 nest in suitable localities, namely sandy beaches sufficiently broad 

 and high to have dry upper portions, along our whole ocean shore. 

 It has nested in large numbers on San Francisco Bay at Alvarado, 

 Alameda County (Reynolds, MS), and once at Buena Vista Lake, 

 Kern County (Linton, 1908c, p. 197) ; while A. K. Fisher (1893a, 

 pp. 25-26) thinks that the species breeds at Owens Lake, and Dawson 

 (1916, p. 26) surmised the same for Goose Lake, Modoc County. 



In coastal localities the nests are almost invariably situated on 

 the sand, a slight distance above the high tide level, and among debris 

 cast up at high water. The nest is a mere depression in the sand, 

 about two and one-half inches in diameter and an inch in depth. 

 Sometimes the cavity is lined with bits of drift wood, fish bones or 

 small pebbles; at other times it is bare of extraneous materials. In 

 an exceptional case, as reported by Henshaw (1876, p. 269), "... 

 the owners must have been of an artistic turn of mind, for they had 

 selected from along the shore little bits of pearly nacre, the remnants 

 of broken sea-shells, and upon a. smooth lining of this material were 

 placed their treasures. The effect of the richly-colored eggs as they 

 lay on the cushion of shining nacre was very pleasing." 



In the vicinity of the salt works near Alvarado, on the Alameda 

 County shore of San Francisco Bay, L. R. Reynolds (MS) found 

 that a great many pairs had in the summer of 1914 selected nesting 

 sites on the dikes separating the salt ponds. The workmen, in tra- 

 versing the dikes with wheelbarrows, reported having broken many 

 eggs. The birds were doing most of their foraging at the edges of 

 the salt ponds, hardly at all on the mud flats of the undisturbed 

 salt marshes nearby. It would appear that artificial conditions such 

 as were provided at this place are of a kind to fulfill all the require- 

 ments of this Plover. 



The eggs in a complete set are two or three, the latter number 

 predominating in the proportion of about three to one. The propor- 

 tion of two-egg sets is greater towards the end of the nesting season 



