74 Bulletin of the 



hen. The hen hatched the little Loons, but in a few days they died from lack 

 of proper food, and were mounted by a local taxidermist. 



Mr. Blain has two young about four days old in his collection, collected 

 July 3rd, 1902. with the adult male, which shows that the eggs must have 

 been deposited at a much later date than the previous mentioned sets, although 

 I believe the nesting date of this species is fairly uniform, extending from 

 about the middle of May to the middle of June. 



There are records of sets from almost every lake of considerable size in 

 this county. I know of lakes where the same pairs of birds nest year after 

 year. Dr. P. E. Moody records six sets taken within the last few years 

 from a small group of lakes in the central part of the county where he stays. 

 After the breeding season it is not an uncommon thing to see four or five 

 Loons together on one of these lakes, although they are usually seen in pairs. 



As we know the Loon is a bird of little economic importance — feeding 

 mainly on fish, roots of fresh water plants, frogs and aquatic insects — but 

 who can imagine our beautiful lakes of Oakland County, amid all their 

 beauty and splendor, without the king of the fresh water swimmers or in 

 the words of Longfellow : 



"The Loon that laughs and flies 

 Down to those reflected skies." 



Detroit. Mich.. August 20. 1903. 



NESTING OF THE PIPING PLOVER ON BIG CHARITY ISLAND, 



MICHIGAN, 1903. 



EDWARD ARNOLD. 



On May 20th I left Bayport, Mich., for Big Charity Island, in the hopes 

 of adding something new to my collection. I expected also to find the 

 American Merganser (AT. Atnericonus) nesting there. 



This island is about twenty miles from Bayport, on Lake Huron, just 

 outside of Saginaw Bay — is government property and a lighthouse has stood 

 on it for about fifty years. A pair of Bald Eagles has nested on it for a 

 great many years. 



Spotted Sandpipers (Actitis macularia) were very numerous and nested 

 around the lighthouse in incredible numbers. I counted over twenty nests, 

 (containing from one to four eggs) within half an acre. The soil is sandy 

 and covered in places with weeds and long grass and on the ridges these 

 birds were nesting. They flushed in numbers from their nests and kept up 

 their piping notes during the time I stood near them. 



A pair of Piping Plover (Aegialitis mcloda) were flying around and 

 running along the sandy beach just above the high water line. I thought 

 the birds were the Belted Piping Plover (A. m. circumcincta — Ridgw. ) and 

 with my assistants at once started to look for the eggs — a short search soon 

 revealed them. The nest was simply a hole scooped in the sand. The four 

 eggs which made up the set were incubated about one week. With many 

 stones and pebbles surrounding the nest the appearance was most beautiful. 

 The parents kept close by. 



I shot the female and was delighted to find that I had secured a nest 

 and eggs of the Piping Plover, a bird not supposed to breed in this state. I 

 could easily have secured both parents, but did not care to kill more than 

 was absolutely necessary for identification. After I had shot the female 

 another pair made their appearance, so that there was at least four of these 

 birds on the inland. 



