BIRDS OF DURHAM AND VICINITY. 
39 
Aegialitis meloda. Piping Plover. 277. 
This Plover appears to be a regular migrant along our coasts ; but 
it is far less abundant than the Ring-neck. I am told that it formerly 
bred at Wells Beach, but at present I believe it does not do so any- 
where in this region. 
Family APHRIZID.-E. 
Arenaria interpres. Turnstone. 283. 
Turnstones regularly migrate, spring and fall, along the coast, but 
are always comparatively few in numbers. They are most likely to be 
seen on rocky shores in August or September. Although resembling 
sandpipers in their general appearance, they are to be distinguished 
by their bills which are rather strong and acutely tipped. 
Order GALLIN.^:. 
Family TETRAONID.'E. 
Colinus virginianus. Bob-white. 289. 
While the Quail is a permanent resident, its numbers vary greatly 
from year to year. In the fall of 1897 they were plentiful, not less 
than fifty living within a radius of two miles of the college. Com- 
paratively few -were shot, yet in the spring they were nearly all gone, 
and for the next two years quail were scarce. In 1900 they were 
fully as abundant as in 1897. Quail have less food resources than 
partridges, and consequently suffer more from, deep snows. This is 
the reason sometimes assigned for the scarcity of quail in northern 
New England, but it seems to me hardly applicable here, as there is 
always an abundance of food above the snow, in the great quantities 
of barberries remaining on the bushes all winter and of which quail 
eat freely. They live principally on insects and seeds and are fre- 
quenters of field and pastures rather than woodland. Ten quail, 
which I have examined, had eaten grasshoppers, spiders, crickets, 
cutworms, stink bugs, ground beetles, leaves of white clover, rag- 
weed seed, barberries, poison-ivy berries, black alder berries, and oats. 
The oats were found in birds taken in the highway after a snowfall, 
and were undoubtedly procured from horse droppings. Quail depend 
upon their protective coloration to escape observation. They skulk 
whenever they can, but when there is no chance to run away unob- 
served, they remain motionless until an intruder is almost upon them 
