The Snowy Plover 
Taken in Orange County Photo by Wright M. Pierce 
AN ARTISTIC HOME 
and there was so little promise of interest, that I allowed my attention to 
wander to a group of shivering Sanderlings, jostling and crowding behind 
a low barrier of sand. Imagine my self-reprobation when upon bending 
a casual glance toward the plover nest I found the female already estab¬ 
lished. But she had evidently not been there long, for she immediately 
set about improving conditions. She first rose, then bent down and thrust 
her beak deep into the sand, bending it upward and inward to pry up the egg. 
After tugging for a time with apparently satisfactory results, she reversed 
her position, settled to her eggs and began kicking vigorously backward, 
tedder-tashion, sending the sand away in tiny showers. This done, she 
performed a similar office for another egg. By the time she had given 
the whole nestful two rounds of this alternate prying and kicking she had 
the eggs well clear of the sand, and she settled herself contentedly, head 
to the wind. It was all done with dexterity and swiftness, and went far 
to relieve the mind of that anxiety to which the sight of many buried 
eggs had made it a prey. 
Partly, we may suppose, because of average misfortunes, the Snowy 
Plover finds it necessary to nest twice, at least in our southern latitudes. 
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