

THE-C?HD?R 



Volume XX September-October, 1918 Number 5 



NOTES OX THE NESTING OF THE MOUNTAIN PLOVER 



By W. C. BRADBURY 

 WITH EIGHT PHOTOS 



IN JUNE, 1916, J. D. Figgins, Director of our local Museum, reported having 

 seen several adult and young Mountain Plover (Podasocys montanus) 

 about twenty miles east of Denver. Early in May of the following year, 

 1917, accompanied by a couple of young assistants I motored to the region, 

 keenly watching for birds of this species, en route. Upon our arrival we scat- 

 tered in different directions for an hour's search, but found nothing. 



On our third trip to the same neighborhood, May 13, Ave discovered our 

 first pair of birds from the auto. They were making short runs, and after 

 watching them for a while, we lined up and systematically searched the ground 

 over a large radius to discover the nest. We were obliged to leave without suc- 

 cess, however, a stake being first driven into the ground to locate the point at 

 which the birds were seen. The observations which follow will cover in gen- 

 eral terms the nine trips to the same region, in which six sets, consisting of 

 three eggs each were secured. 



The ground is an open, rolling prairie, above the line of irrigation, and is 

 devoted to cattle range. It is several miles from natural surface water and 

 streams, and is covered with short-cropped buffalo or gramma grass, two or 

 three inches high, with frequent bunches of dwarfed prickly pear, and an occa- 

 sional cluster of stunted shrub or weed, rarely more than one foot in height. 



With the six sets secured, in no instance had the parent bird taken ad- 

 vantage of the slight protection offered from sight or the elements by the near- 

 by cactus, shrubs or uneven spots of ground. In each case, she had avoided 

 such shelter, locating in the open, generally between the small grass hummocks 

 and not on or in them ; there was no evidence of the parent birds having given 

 more thought to nest preparation or concealment, than does any other plover. 



