CHARADRIID2E — THE PLOVERS — AEGIALITIS. 
163 
the winter return in pairs. Audubon states that during the winter they are seen in 
flocks of twenty or thirty, and that they associate with other species, particularly 
the Turnstones. The same writer asserted that this species never proceeds far inland, 
even along the sandy margins of our largest rivers ; but in this he was mistaken. 
This Plover is found along the shores of our inland large lakes, especially Lake 
Ontario ; and it occurs both as a resident and as a migrant at Lake Ivoskonong, in 
Wisconsin. It is probable that such exceptions as these will be found to be not 
unfrequent wherever favorable localities exist. Although during its summer resi- 
dence it seems to prefer to run rather than to fly, yet in its migrations it is capable 
of extremely rapid as well as protracted journeys — passing through the air by a 
gliding course, close over the sand in its short flights, but high above the shore in its 
long passages. 
According to Giraud, the Piping Plover is very abundant on the southern shore of 
Long Island, preferring sandy beaches and shoals, where it feeds on the small bivalve 
shells which are exposed at low water. It may also be seen near the edge of the 
surf feeding on the deposit of the receding waves. It makes there no nest other 
than a slight excavation in the sand. The eggs, four in number, that author describes 
as being of a pale yellowish or cream-color, speckled with brownish black. When 
pursued it is said to run rapidly, and if closely followed it takes wing, giving utter- 
ance to a note which is more shrill than the ordinarily mellow one which it sounds 
when not disturbed. In autumn this bird is said to become very fat, and to be then 
excellent eating. To the fishermen of Long Island it is known as the Beach-bird. 
The Piping Plover is thought to be of accidental occurrence in Bermuda, where 
both Mr. Hardis and Major Wedclerburn have noted the occasional presence of 
stragglers ; these were usually seen only after a storm. 
Two eggs in my collection (No. 53o), from Provincetown, Mass., are of an oval 
shape, much rounded at one end, and sharply tapering at the other. Their ground is 
a light fawn-colored drab, over which are sparsely distributed small rounded markings 
of a dark bistre, intensified almost to blackness. They measure 1.20 inches in length 
by 1 inch in their greatest breadth. Except in their smaller size and their lighter 
ground, they are similar to the eggs of Wilson’s Plover. 
The habitat of var. circumcinctus is given by Mr. Eidgway (Am. Nat. VIII. p. 109) 
as between the Missouri Eiver and the Eocky Mountains. It is, however, found as 
far eastward as Lake Ivoskonong, in Southern Wisconsin, and occasionally even 
along the Atlantic coast. Its habits appear to be identical with those of the melodus. 
Mr. Nelson refers to this species as a very common summer resident on the borders 
of the lake, where it breeds on the flat pebbly beach between the sand-dunes and 
the shore. He obtained a perfect egg from an example shot at Waukegan, on the 24th 
of April ; and there were appearances indicating that others were breeding in the 
neighborhood. Some thirty pairs or more exhibited unmistakable signs of having their 
nests on the beach at that place within a space of two miles ; and he afterward found 
these birds quite numerous at other points along the shore, although he was unable 
to discover their nests. They were continually circling about, or standing at a short 
distance uttering an occasional note of alarm. Dr. Velie procured young of this 
variety, only a few days old, near the same locality, on the 1st of July. All depart, 
it is said, about the last of September. 
