BIRDS OF PENNSYLVANIA. 
93 
stripes of white and black ; tip and top of bill blackish, rest yellowish ; legs yel¬ 
low ; eyes brown ; length about 12| inches ; extent about 23. 
Habitat .—Eastern North America, north to Nova Scotia and Alaska, breeding 
throughout its North American range ; migrating in winter southward as far even 
as southern South America. Occasional in Europe. 
This bird, known to sportsmen as the Field or Grass Plover, is 
a common migrant and summer resident in Pennsylvania from about 
the 20th of April until September. This species resides during the 
breeding season in grass fields and highlands. In this particular it 
differs from others of its family. Often in the summer these birds alight 
on fences along the roadside, in trees, etc., and raise their long wings to 
their full extent. When breeding these birds are found singly or in 
pairs, and they are then quite unsuspicious, often allowing a very near 
approach before they take to wing or run off and hide in the grass, but 
in the late summer when assembled in flocks they become exceedingly 
shy and difficult of approach. Many gunners who shoot every season, in 
August, large numbers of these delicious game birds, generally go on 
horseback or in wagons in order to get within easy range of their fleet- 
footed, swift-winged and wary game. Nests on the ground, the spotted 
eggs, three to four, measure a little over 1^ inches long by a trifle more 
than 1J inches broad. Its ordinary note is a rather loud yet soft and pleas¬ 
ing whistle, but when breeding it frequently utters a loud, prolonged and 
tremulous piercing scream, which, when heard at considerable distance, 
sounds very much like the sudden cry of a child in great distress. Late 
in July and in August, or when the young are amply able to provide for 
themselves, the plovers collect in flocks of six, eight a dozen, or twenty, 
and sometimes many more, and frequent grass fields and meadows, 
particularly where grasshoppers, which are one of their favorite articles 
of food, are abundant. 
By the last of September but few of the species are found in the in¬ 
terior, as they appear to soon leave the breeding grounds and migrate 
towards the seacoast and large tide rivers. 
In addition to feeding on different forms of insect-life, especially beetles 
and grasshoppers, the plover often eats various kinds of berries and seeds. 
Fourteen of these birds, which I have examined, were found to have fed 
on the following-named insects, etc.: 
1 
2 
3 
4 
5 
6 
7 
8 
9 
10 
11 
12 
13 
14 
DATE. 
Locality. 
Food-Materials. 
July —. 1879. 
Willistown, Pa. 
Beetles.* 
July —, 1879,. 
Willistown, Pa. 
Various insects.* 
July —. 1879. 
Willistown. Pa. 
Grasshoppers.* 
June 6, 1880. .. 
Honeybrook, Pa. 
Beetles. 
June 6, 1880. 
Honeybrook, Pa. 
Beetles. 
Sept. 15. 1880. 
Philadelphia Market. Pa., 
Small ‘'worms." 
Sept. 15, 1880,. 
Philadelphia Market, Pa., 
Beetles. 
Aug. 20. 1883. 
Chester county, Pa. 
Grasshoppers and small seeds. 
Aug. 20. 1833. 
Chester county. Pa. 
Grasshoppers. 
Aug. 20. 1883. 
Chester county. Pa. 
Grasshoppers. 
Aug. 20, 1883. 
Chester county. Pa..... 
Grasshoppers and fragments of beetles. 
Aug. 14 1884. 
Chester county. Pa. 
Grasshoppers. 
Aug. 14, 1884. 
Chester county, Pa. 
Dipterous insects. 
Aug. 14, 1884. 
1 Chester county. Pa. 
Small seeds and grasshoppers. 
* Young birds. 
