PIPING PLOVER. 91 



the coast of Alaska (Harting), and one is recorded from San Fran- 

 cisco, Calif. (Ridgway). In each case the bird was far from home, 

 for the breeding grounds of the species are in southern Europe, 

 central Asia, and north to about 60° latitude. The species winters 

 in the northern half of Africa, and in Asia south to India, and the 

 Malay Archipelago. 



Piping Plover. Mgialitis meloda (Ord). 



Breeding range. — The northern limit of the piping plover's breed- 

 ing range is in Nova Scotia (Bryant), the Magdalen Islands in the 

 Gulf of St. Lawrence (Bishop), southern Ontario (Saunders), central 

 Manitoba (Bendire), southern Saskatchewan (Macoun), and proba- 

 bly southwestern Keewatin (King). It is very local in its distribu- 

 tion during the breeding season, and is unknown over most of the 

 district mentioned above. Formerly it nested on the coast of Vir- 

 ginia at Cobbs Island (Kirkwood), and was fairly common as a breeder 

 on the New Jersey coast (Scott). Now it is rare as a breeder any- 

 where on the Atlantic coast south of Nova Scotia, though still nesting 

 at a few localities south to southern New Jersey (Stone). In the 

 interior it nests as far south as Erie, Pa. (Todd) ; the lake shore in 

 northern Ohio (Jones) ; near Lake Michigan in northwestern Indiana 

 (Woodruff); and west to central Nebraska (Bruner, Wolcott, and 

 Swenk) . 



Winter range. — The coast of Texas (Sennett) and the coasts of 

 Florida (Scott) and Georgia (Worthington) constitute the principal 

 winter home of this species. Indeed, it is probable that records at 

 other places represent stragglers. The West Indies are commonly 

 included in the winter range, but the species seems to be only casual 

 in migration south of the United States. It was taken once in Porto 

 Rico in August (Gundlach); Jamaica in November (Gosse); a few 

 in Cuba in April of a single year (Gundlach) ; several on three islands 

 of the Bahamas in May (Bangs) and July (Bonhite); three indi- 

 viduals in the Bermudas in the fall (Reid) . It has occurred occasion- 

 ally on the New Jersey coast in winter (Stone). 



Spring migration. — Dates of spring arrival are very irregular. The 

 average date on Long Island, New York, is April 7; earliest March 

 24, 1884 (Dutcher); eastern Massachusetts, average April 12, earliest 

 March 26, 1893 (Mackay); southern Ontario, average May 16, ear- 

 liest May 1, 1891 (Fleming). Some other dates of arrival are: Cum- 

 berland, Ga., March 10, 1902 (Helme); near Newport, R. L, March 

 24, 1903 (King); Erie, Pa., April 16, 1900 (Todd); Oberlin, Ohio, 

 May 13, 1907 (Jones); Sioux City, Iowa, May 8, 1904 (Rich); Gib- 

 bon, Nebr., May 4, 1888 (Thatcher); Indian Head, Saskatchewan, 

 May 16, 1892 (Macoun). Thus, in general, migration up the Missis- 

 sippi Valley is much later than at corresponding latitudes on the 



