Chapter C: A. Bobbins (1919) in a study of a colony of piping plovers breeding (1)

in Massachusetts lays stress on the communal feeling that he noted in the birds. He says that the feeling--

manifests itself in a marked degree; as when, at a threat
of danger, more than two adults join in driving a single
brood up the beach and into the safety which the concealing
color of the dry sand furnishes.

It is shown again by the number of old birds that attempt
to distract attention from the same brood or even from a
detached individual by feigning; creeping off with wings
outstretched and fluttering, tail fanned and dragging or,
if the need requires more extreme measures, collapsing
utterly a short distance away as if completely exhausted.

_Voice._--The piping plover’s home is blue and gray and white; on one side is the long line of the horizon over a large lake or the sea, on the other the long line of the sand hills. It is a land the same the world over, wherever the sea meets the white, shifting sand. The sea slides back and forth over the hard smooth wet shining beach; above the reach of the tide is the dry, pale gray, pebbly upper beach with here and there a few strands of beach grass growing in it, and higher up are the dunes which mark on the land side the boundary of the plover’s home.

Walk along the water’s edge and, although the sea may be pounding on the shore and a northerly gale howling about our ears, we shall hear the plover’s voice; a soft musical moan, we can not tell from where, but clear and distinct above the sound of waves and wind. The note has a ventriloquial quality and it is often our first intimation that a piping plover is near, for the soft gray of the bird’s plumage matches the sandy background, whereas the note is pervasive and attracts our attention by its strangeness.

Aretas A. Saunders sends me the following summary of this plover’s notes. He says:

The commonest call I have noted is the one rendered in the
books as _peep-lo_. It is lower pitched than most of the
shore-bird voices, a clear melodious whistle, and generally
rendered _peep peep peeplo_. The _peep_ is usually a
tone or a tone and a half higher pitched than the _lo_
and I have one record where it is three tones and a half
higher. I have one or two records where the second note
slurs upward, the effect like _peep-loay_ and suggesting
the _peeawee_ of the wood pewee. Another sort of note I
have several records of I do not find described in books.
This is a series of short sweet notes, more rapid than the
others, nine or ten notes in a series. They are either all
on the same pitch, or grading slightly downward in pitch
toward the end, and they are sometimes followed by the
peep-lo notes, at least in flight.

J. T. Nichols says in his notes:

When nesting the piping plover is rather noisy. The thought
of its plaintive, rather mellow whistled notes, _queep_,
_queep_, _queeplo_, etc., which perhaps have an analogy
with song, takes me back to the sand dunes of Cape Cod
standing in the dazzling sunshine, where I first became
familiar with this species a number of years ago. At other
times of year piping plover are rather silent. Their
whistled flight note _hee-hu_, with falling inflection at
the end, is not loud or striking, and suggests that of the
semipalmated plover, reversed.

Gayle Pickwell (1925) in a study of the breeding habits “on a strip of sandy beach at Capital Lake near Lincoln” [Nebraska] says:

The most interesting thing about the piping plovers was
their activities when one was near the nest. As an observer
approached the nest he would be met by one of the plovers
dropping down out of nowhere, uttering its sharp _kee-wee,
kee-wee_ and striving its utmost to lead one away. It would
then run briskly across the sand and disappear suddenly
from sight when it stopped to crouch down and utter its
long-drawn _whooaah, whooaah_.

The variety of their cries and calls was amazing.

At almost any period, while we were in the neighborhood,
one of the birds could be observed flying here and there
with slow, wide wing beats, uttering a rapid _kuk, kuk,
kuk, kuk_. It would shortly alight and wind it up with a
long-drawn, weird _whooaah, whooaah_ that seemed to come
from nowhere in particular. The distress cries while one
was near the nest were confined chiefly to a sharp _kee-ah,
kee-ah_. The reason for their name of “piping” became very
apparent at such times.

The _kuk_ mentioned by Mr. Pickwell is seemingly analogous to a common note which the semipalmated plovers use as they carry on their harmless running flights along the beach--a sort of rattling cackle of short notes somewhat suggesting the call of the red crossbill. These utterances are evidently expressions of a heightening in the emotional state of these closely related plovers.

John A. Farley (1919) describes a mating song accompanying courting activities. He says:

I noticed a group of three, two of which chased each
other around just like two robins fighting over a female.
Some flew around rather low over the beach (some of them
rather close to me), in apparent sexual excitement, and
uttered notes while on the wing. These were different from
the usual mellow, rather low notes which the birds were
uttering more or less all the time while on the sand. Their
notes on the wing were higher in tone and rather long drawn
out, and mixed in with them were some little chuckles. The
whole might be described as some sort of a mating song.

_Field marks._--J. T. Nichols says in substance in his notes that the bird--

may be recognized by its exceedingly pale colors which
nearly match the dry sand of the beach above high-water
mark. The white in the wing shows so little contrast to
the general tone of the plumage that, although in flight
a pattern on the wing is visible, it Is very faintly
indicated. A flying sanderling sometimes appears to be
about the same color, but has bolder wing pattern than the
plover.

The bobbing motion characteristic of several of the plovers is a common habit of the piping plover. This is a single hitching motion by which the body is tilted up and down on the legs as a fulcrum. It is apparently identical with the bob of the semipalmated plover and is made frequently as the birds stand about on the beach.

_Enemies._--The piping plover is shielded from its enemies by remarkable protective coloration which renders the bird nearly invisible as it stands motionless on the gray sand, especially when among scattered stones. The eggs, the young, and the adult bird are alike protected, so now that man is no longer its deadly enemy there is little to check the species from repopulating its breeding haunts in its former numbers.

E. Beaupre speaks in his notes of a local condition in eastern Ontario. He says: “Owing to the destructive work of crows [in eating the plover’s eggs] some are obliged to lay a second clutch, and this no doubt accounts for some of the nests containing fresh eggs in June.”

_Fall._--The piping plover moves southward soon after its nesting activities are over, following the habit of its relatives, the Limicolae which breed during the short summer about the Arctic Circle. Early departure from its nesting ground is not imperative in the case of this southerly breeding bird, but the habit is undoubtedly of long standing and dates back to the time when the species bred close to the edge of the glacial ice field and summer passed quickly.

_Winter._--W. E. D. Scott (1892), speaking of the bird in Jamaica on its winter quarters, says: “In October, 1887, piping plover were abundant among the lagoons and mangrove swamps at the Palisades; they moved about in large flocks which, when once alighted on the shell-bestrewn beaches, it was impossible to detect.”

We leave the little plover covered by the helmet of invisibility.

DISTRIBUTION

_Range._--Eastern North America and the West Indies.

_Breeding range._--The breeding range of the piping plover extends north to Saskatchewan (Big Stick Lake and Quill Lake); Manitoba (Birch Island in Lake Manitoba and Lake Winnipeg); Michigan (Big Beaver Island and Charity Island); Ontario (Toronto and Brighton); Quebec (probably Natashquan); and probably Newfoundland (Stephenville Crossing, St. George Bay). East to probably Newfoundland (Stephenville); the Magdalen Islands; Prince Edward Island (North River); Nova Scotia (Sable Island and Yarmouth); Massachusetts (Ipswich, Monomoy Island, and Marthas Vineyard); New York (Gardiners Island and Shelter Island); New Jersey (Barnegat Inlet, Beach Haven, Sea Isle City, and probably Cape May); Maryland (probably Ocean City); Virginia (Chincoteague Island, Cobb Island, and Cape Charles); and North Carolina (Pea Island and Beaufort). South to North Carolina (Beaufort); northern Pennsylvania (Erie); northern Ohio (Painesville, Cleveland, Oberlin, and Sandusky); northern Indiana (Millers); northern Illinois (Waukegan); southern Wisconsin (Milwaukee and Lake Koshkonong); and Nebraska (Lincoln, Dannebrog, and Doss). West to Nebraska (Goss); South Dakota (Miner County); North Dakota (Stump Lake, Minnewauken, and Kenmare); and southern Saskatchewan (Big Stick Lake).

There are many gaps in the range above outlined and the species also has been extirpated from parts of its breeding grounds.

_Winter range._--Almost entirely the South Atlantic and Gulf coasts of the United States. North to southern Texas (Padre Island, Aransas River and High Island); Louisiana (Vermilion Bay); Alabama (Petit Bois Island and Dauphin Island); and Georgia (Savannah). East to Georgia (Savannah and Darien); eastern Florida (Amelia Island, Mayport, St. Augustine, Sebastian, and Miami); probably the Bahama Islands (Eleuthera and Great Inagua); and probably rarely Porto Rico. South to probably rarely Port Rico; Cuba (Matanzas and Habana); southern and western Florida (Cape Sable, Key West, Sanibel Island, Fort Myers; mouth of the Withlacoochee River, and probably Pensacola); and southern Texas (Padre Island). West to southern Texas (Padre Island). The species has been detected in winter occasionally in Bermuda.

_Spring migration._--Early dates of spring arrival are: South Carolina, Frogmore, March 20; North Carolina, Pea Island, April 7; District of Columbia, Washington, March 25; Pennsylvania, Erie, April 16; New York, Shinnecock, March 24, Montauk Point, April 1, and Gardiners Island, April 7; Rhode Island, Newport, March 24; Massachusetts, Marthas Vineyard, March 18, Dennis, March 24, and Nantucket, March 26; Nova Scotia, April 24; Illinois, Colona, April 9, and De Kalb, April 18; Indiana, Waterloo, April 14, and Frankfort, April 15; Ohio, Lakeside, April 7, and Oberlin, April 15; Michigan, Port Sanilac, April 15, Ottawa Beach, April 23, and Detroit, April 26; Ontario, Point Pelee, April 10, Listowel, May 1, and Toronto, May 8; Iowa, German Center, April 10; Wisconsin, Whitewater, April 29, and Elkhorn, May 13; Minnesota, Waseca, May 11, and Heron Lake, May 11; Kansas, Lawrence, April 27, McPherson, May 3, and Topeka, May 7; Nebraska, Lincoln, April 26, Gibbon, May 4, Nebraska City, May 8, and Doss, May 11; South Dakota, Sioux Falls, May 5, and Vermilion, May 8; North Dakota, Harrisburg, May 23, and St. Thomas, May 29; Manitoba, Shoal Lake, May 15, and Killarney, May 25; and Saskatchewan, Indian Head, May 14, Qu’Appelle, May 23, and Lake Johnston, May 23.

Late dates of spring departure are: Florida, Amelia Island, April 20, Daytona Beach, May 1, and Peninsula Point, May 11; and South Carolina, Sullivans Island, May 11, and Mount Pleasant, May 18.

_Fall migration._--Early dates of arrival in the fall are: Texas, Rockport, August 12, and St. Joseph Island, August 14; Mississippi, Bay St. Louis, August 29; South Carolina, Mount Pleasant, August 2; Florida, New Smyrna, July 15, Fernandina, August 3, and Daytona, August 10; and Alabama, Dauphin Island, August 16.

Late dates of fall departure are: Manitoba, Shoal Lake, September 7; South Dakota, Forestburg, September 24; Nebraska, Bellwood, September 19, and Doss, September 24; Iowa, Grinnell, October 28; Ontario, Point Pelee, September 22; Michigan, Newbury, September 18; Ohio, Cleveland, September 24, Painesville, September 26, and Port Clinton, September 28; Indiana, La Fayette, September 18; Prince Edward Island, North River, October 20; Nova Scotia, Pictou, October 8; Vermont, Bennington, October 2; Massachusetts, Lynn, October 3, Dennis, October 12, and Boston, October 26; Rhode Island, Block Island, October 24; New York, Fair Haven Light, September 28, and Long Beach, November 7 (exceptionally late date); New Jersey, Cape May, September 13; and Pennsylvania, Erie, September 26.

_Casual records._--The piping plover has been detected outside of its regular range on very few occasions. A specimen in the British Museum from the Lake of the Woods, Ontario, may indicate breeding in that locality. One was obtained at Cheyenne, Wyo., on May 30, 1892.

_Egg dates._--Quebec and New Brunswick: 55 records, June 1 to 29; 28 records, June 5 to 18. New England to New Jersey: 48 records, May 22 to June 29; 24 records, May 28 to June 23. Dakotas: 13 records, May 26 to July 1; 7 records, May 28 to June 6.

CHARADRIUS NIVOSUS NIVOSUS (Cassin)

SNOWY PLOVER

HABITS

The charming little snowy plover of the Pacific coast is the counterpart of our familiar piping plover, found in similar haunts, perhaps even tamer and more confiding, but not equal to our eastern bird in melody of voice. It is a child of the sand, with which its colors blend so well that when crouched in some hollow or against some bleached piece of driftwood or half buried clam shell it seems to be just one more of the numerous, inconspicuous objects which one passes unnoticed on the beach. Its favorite haunts are the broad expanses of flat, dry sand above the ordinary wash of the tides on ocean beaches. Such places are usually strewn more or less thickly with shells, pebbles, and various bits of débris, among which the little plover, or its eggs and young, are surprisingly inconspicuous. Here it was born and has always lived; here it woos its mate and rears its little family; and hence it seldom strays except to feed along the water’s edge on the ocean beach or on the bare flats along some near-by tidal creek. There are, however, a few places in the interior where the snowy plover has been found along the shores of salt or alkaline lakes. But it is mainly a bird of the ocean beaches.

_Spring._--The snowy plover wanders north in the spring as far as the coast of Washington. D. E. Brown tells me that he saw it in Grays Harbor County from April 7 to 13, 1918, and from May 14 to 16, 1914, in Pacific County. But apparently no one has ever found it breeding there, although several good observers have looked for it.

_Nesting._--The nesting grounds of the snowy plover have been briefly described above, but a better description is contained in the following quotation from W. Lee Chambers (1904):

The nesting ground is a white sandy cape or narrow strip
of land between Ballona Swamp and the ocean about 2 miles
long and 200 yards wide. This place during the fall high
tides is completely flooded and deposits of small rocks
and broken shells are left there. Among these the plovers
place their nests. On approaching it one may be attracted
by noticing the little fellows running about on the sand in
front of him or occasionally flying in low, wide circles
uttering a pleading whistle so characteristic of this
species. This whistle I have learned is a danger signal
that I am near their nests, and on looking over the ground
carefully I may be able to notice fine bird tracks in the
white sand or in the patches of white sand between the
shells and rocks.

In going over the ground carefully where the tracks are
the thickest a nest will generally be found. Sometimes the
birds will build among the small rocks, where the tracks
can not be seen, and here the eggs are safe, as their
coloration protects them, for they look exactly like small
rocks. The nests are, as a rule, found by a mark of some
kind, a bone of some animal, a small dead weed, or a bit
of driftwood, and are slight depressions in the sand. Some
are completely lined with broken shells or fish bones with
the eggs pointed toward the center, very close together and
about half buried in the nest lining. A pair of birds will
build several nests during the season and use only one, for
I have found nests all fixed up and completely surrounded
with tracks. This I noticed especially in 1901, for I found
about three times as many unused nests as used ones. During
this season I visited Ballona about three times a week and
gave the birds careful study.

While J. Eugene Law was helping me to get acquainted with the birds of southern California, we spent a delightful day, May 29, 1914, among these birds with Mr. Chambers at Del Rey, Los Angeles County. This was once a typical nesting place of this species, a broad stretch of sand flats above an ocean beach, backed by sand dunes and bordered on the inner side by a sluggish stream meandering through a marsh and some brackish lagoons. But civilization was encroaching on the plover’s paradise, for several cottages had been built on the beach and it was much frequented. Some four pairs of snowy plover still clung to their ancestral home; we found three nests with three eggs each and one empty nest, in open spaces among the houses. The nests were mostly on little mounds of sand and scattered pebbles or among low sand dunes covered with low weeds and vines. They were deep hollows in the sand, profusely lined with finely broken white and pink shells, among scattered small stones, bits of wood, or other rubbish. Amid such surroundings the eggs were not easily detected; but we could usually locate the nests by the multitude of little footprints in the sand converging toward the nest. All but one of the birds were shy and sneaked off the nests before we drew near. They watched us from a distance, running about very swiftly, whistling their soft, plaintive notes of protest. One bird was very tame; I gradually walked up very close to her and finally photographed her within 3 or 4 feet. This gentle and confiding little bird, after running about with drooping wings and spread tail, came slowly up to the nest and settled down on the eggs right in front of me, spreading out her plumage to cover her treasures. As a reward for her bravery we did not disturb her further.

Grinnell, Bryant, and Storer (1918) write that:

In the vicinity of the salt works near Alvarado, on the
Alameda County shore of San Francisco Bay, L. R. Reynolds
found that a great many pairs had in the summer of
1914 selected nesting sites on the dike separating the
salt ponds. The workmen, in traversing the dikes with
wheelbarrows, reported having broken many eggs.

_Eggs._--The snowy plover ordinarily lays three eggs, but often only two. Mr. Chambers (1904) says that out of 44 sets which he collected 11 were of two eggs and 33 were of three. The two egg sets were complete, as he left them long enough to make sure. The eggs were laid about three days apart. The extended nesting season, April to July, would seem to indicate that two broods are raised, but I believe that this has not been positively proven. The eggs are short, ovate in shape, and without gloss. They are colored to match the sand--“olive buff” to “pale olive buff,” or “cartridge buff.” They are more or less evenly but not thickly covered with small spots, dots, or little scrawls of black and a few small inconspicuous spots of “pallid mouse gray.” The measurements of 51 eggs average 30.4 by 22.3 millimeters; the eggs showing the four extremes measure =32.5= by 23.5, 30 by =24=, and =28= by =20.5= millimeters.

_Young._--Apparently both sexes share the duties of incubation and care of the young, at which they prove devoted parents. When the young are approached the parents use all the artifices known to similar species to distract the attention of the intruder, fluttering along as if both wings and legs were helpless, or grovelling in the sand as if wounded. Such tactics often succeed in fooling a dog and enticing him far enough away but to human beings they are only an incentive to look carefully for the tiny balls of down that, obedient to their parents’ note of warning, are crouched immovable and well-nigh invisible in some little hollow in the sand or under or against some object on the beach. And there the little one remains “frozen” until touched or until sure that he is observed; when, presto, off he goes, running at a marvelous pace on his strong little legs. We watch him for some time as he scampers away for a long distance until suddenly he vanishes; then, unless we have marked him down exactly and kept our eyes on the spot, we had better give up hope of finding him again.

_Plumages._--The downy young snowy plover is quite unlike the young piping plover. The entire upper parts are pale buff, “cream buff” to “cartridge buff,” mixed with grayish white. The crown, back, rump, wings, and thighs are distinctly and quite evenly spotted with black. The under parts are pure white.

In the juvenal plumage the crown, mantle, rump, cheeks, and a space in front of the wing are “drab,” or “light drab,” with a pinkish buff tinge on the tips of the feathers; the forehead and all under parts are white. The first winter plumage is similar, without the buffy edgings.

Adults have a complete postnuptial molt in late summer and fall, and a partial prenuptial molt in early spring. Males in nuptial plumage have the crown and nape “pinkish buff,” and a broad band above the forehead, an auricular patch and a patch in front of the wing abruptly clear black. In females the crown is pale drab, like the back, and the dark markings are more restricted and more brownish. In winter the sexes are alike, similar to the spring female, but the dark markings are even duller, about the same tone as the back.

_Food._--Snowy plover feed mainly on the sandy beaches, foraging on the wet sand and at the surf line, where they are expert at dodging the incoming waves and very lively, running up and down the beach as the waves advance or recede. Here they often forage in compact bunches, picking up small crustaceans, marine worms, or other minute marine organisms. Inland they feed along the muddy or alkaline shores of ponds or lakes, on various insects, such as beetles or flies. Dr. A. K. Fisher (1893) says:

This handsome little plover was observed by the writer
on the shores of Owens Lake, near Keeler, May 30 to
June 4, where it was common in small flocks of 5 or 10
on the alkaline flats which border the lake. Like most
other birds in the vicinity, it fed extensively, if not
exclusively, on a species of small fly (_Ephydra hians_
Say), which was found in immense masses near the edge of
the lake. Many of these swarms of flies were four or five
layers deep and covered an area of 15 or 20 square feet.
Some idea can be formed of the inexhaustible supply of food
which this insect furnishes for birds when it is known
that colonies of equal size occurred at close intervals in
suitable localities all around the lake, which has a shore
line of between 40 and 50 miles.

_Behavior._--Grinnell, Bryant, and Storer (1918) write:

When searching for food they move about a great deal,
with a distinct trot, and on occasion have been seen to
hop along on one leg as Torrey has observed sanderlings
to do at Santa Barbara. Their movements are rapid and
their strides exceedingly long. At Netarts Bay, Oreg.,
Jewett says that when running fast the strides of one of
these birds proved to measure 6 inches. One of the birds
will start, run 3 or 4 feet, and stop suddenly, the whole
performance occupying but a second or two. There is an
abrupt upward tilt of the body at intervals, and with the
return movement the quavering note is often uttered. In
flight the birds may travel in open formation, or closely
massed, and the flight may be either direct, or in zigzag
course as with the small sandpipers. Both in flight, and on
the ground, their chunky appearance helps to distinguish
them from the small sandpipers. They are quite tame and
will usually permit a close approach, preferring apparently
to trot along in front of the observer, or off to one side,
rather than to take wing.

Florence Merriam Bailey (1916) observes:

Besides the large waders, the godwits, willets, and surf
birds, there were flocks of little sanderlings and snowy
plover, looking like small chickens on the beach among the
bigger birds. The snowy plover, plump, squat little fellows
with head markings that suggest wide foreheads and backs
that match the sand on which they love to sun themselves,
when feeding on the beach would hurry back ahead of the
foam, their short legs making them more in danger of
getting wet than the long-legged godwits. When resting,
the plump little sandy-backed fellows kept by themselves.
Sometimes as I walked along above the line of the tide,
bits of sand would take legs ahead of me, the brown forms
that squatted in my path having been entirely overlooked.
When I saw them before they got up, and stopped to talk to
them, the confiding little fellows flatteringly sat still
or went on fixing their feathers, looking very comfortable
in the warm sand. To me they seemed the most winning and
attractive of all the lovely little sandpipers. When they
were surprised and ran from me they did it in a comical
crouching way as if knowing their backs were sand color and
trying to hide their black legs and plump white bodies.
Their habit of bobbing the head is doubtless useful at
times, but the motion often catches the eye when without it
they would not be separated from the sand.

_Voice._--Grinnell, Bryant, and Storer (1918) say: “Snowy plover are exceptionally quiet birds; but at times a low, guttural, trilling note, _cr-r-r-r_ or _pe-e-e-et_, may be given, and when the vicinity of the nest is invaded the birds give utterance to relatively loud cries.”

_Field marks._--They also give the best recognition marks, as follows:

The snowy plover is readily distinguished from most other
shore birds occurring in California by its very small size
(total length, 6–7 inches). It is but slightly larger than
our smallest shore bird, the least sandpiper. The chunky
appearance, short, thick bill (which is shorter than the
head), white collar around hind neck, uniform pale drab
upper surface, pure white under surface, and conspicuous
dark-brown or black patches at the sides of the breast
are all useful as aids to recognition. From the killdeer,
and the semipalmated and Wilson plovers, the snowy is
distinguished by its lack of complete black or dark-brown
breast band and by its smaller size, and from the least
and western sandpipers, and from the sanderling, by its
white collar around hind neck and by the dark patches at
the sides of its chest; and, in spring, from the last three
named birds by the absence of mixed coloration on its upper
surface.

_Winter._--The snowy plover is a permanent resident throughout the southern part of its range, though perhaps the same individuals may not be present all the year round. It winters as far north as San Francisco, but more abundantly from Santa Barbara southward, where its numbers are increased in winter by migrants from farther north and where flocks of 50 or more are often seen.

DISTRIBUTION

_Range._--The United States (principally the western part), the West Indies, and Central and South America.

_Breeding range._--The snowy plover breeds north probably to Washington (Willapa Harbor); Utah (Bear River and Farmington); southern Kansas (Comanche County); Oklahoma (Cimarron River); Mississippi (Horn Island); Florida (Pensacola, and Santa Rosa Island); and Cuba (rarely Guantanamo). East to Cuba (rarely Guantanamo). South to Cuba (rarely Guantanamo); southern Texas (Refugio County, probably San Patricio County, and Corpus Christi); probably New Mexico (Carlsbad); and Lower California (La Paz). West to Lower California (La Paz, probably Santa Rosalia Bay, and probably San Quentin Bay); California (San Diego, probably San Nicholas Island, probably San Miguel Island, Santa Barbara, Morro, Monterey, Santa Cruz, Pescadero, San Francisco, and Eureka); probably Oregon (Netarts Bay); and probably Washington (Willapa Harbor).

_Winter range._--The winter range extends north to California (Santa Cruz Islands); Texas (Brownsville, Corpus Christi, and Aransas Bay); probably coastal regions of Louisiana; Florida (Pensacola, Santa Rosa Island, Cedar Keys, Clearwater, and Fort Myers); Bahama Islands (Riley); probably Cuba (Gundlach); probably Yucatan; and Chile (Calbuco). South to Chile (Calbuco). West to Chile (Calbuco, and probably Valparaiso); Peru (Chorillos, and the valley of the Tambo); probably Guatemala (Chiapam); Lower California (La Paz, Magdalena Islands, and San Cristobal Bay); and California (San Diego, Santa Cruz Island, Santa Barbara, and Monterey Bay). They also were noted at Westport, Wash., on December 19, 1927 (letter, J. H. Bowles), and so may winter rarely in that region.

_Spring migration._--But little information is available concerning the migration of the snowy plover. Early dates of spring arrival are: Kansas, McPherson, April 14, and Douglas County, April 22; Utah, Salt Lake County, May 3; Oregon, Corvallis, March 24, and Malheur Lake, April 20; and Washington, Grays Harbor, April 7.

_Fall migration._--The few available late dates of fall departure are: Washington, Point Chehalis, November 18; and northern California, San Francisco, November 1, and Alameda, December 3.

_Casual records._--The snowy plover has been detected outside of its normal range on a few occasions. Among these are: Brazil (Specimen in United States National Museum); southern Chile (Coquimbo, Straits of Magellan in June [Sharpe]); Ontario, Toronto, one specimen in May, 1880, and another on July 6, 1897 (Fleming); Nebraska, two specimens at Lincoln, May 17, 1903 (Swenk); Wyoming, one taken near Cheyenne (Knight); while a specimen from Kodiak Island, Alaska, reported by Schalow (1891) as _Charadrius alexandrinus_, may be this species.

_Egg dates._--California: 155 records, April 2 to July 28; 78 records, May 5 to June 14. Utah: 5 records, April 30 to June 15.

[AUTHOR’S NOTE.--The above distribution includes both North American races. Probably the birds found breeding east of the Rocky Mountains and wintering on eastern coasts will prove to be referable to _tenuirostris_, but there are not enough specimens available from these localities to outline definitely the ranges of the two races.]

CHARADRIUS NIVOSUS TENUIROSTRIS (Lawrence)

CUBAN SNOWY PLOVER

HABITS

The snowy plover which breeds on the Gulf coasts of Texas, Louisiana, and Florida, as well as in Cuba, the Bahamas, and a few places in the interior has been separated from the Pacific coast form under the above name. The difference between the two forms is not easily recognized, but the eastern bird is said to be much paler and may average a trifle smaller. The habits of the two seem to be similar. N. S. Goss (1891) found this bird breeding on the salt plains along the Cimarron River, Indian Territory, in 1886. Herbert W. Brandt sent me some notes on a nest found by him in Nueces County, Tex. Francis M. Weston writes to me that it is common and breeds near Pensacola, Fla. He says of its notes:

When on the ground the Cuban snowy plover gives a
low-pitched, musical whistle, roughly indicated by the
words _pe-wee-ah_ or _o-wee-ah_, the accent being on the
second syllable with the first and third almost inaudible
at a distance of 30 feet. The flight note is a purring
whistle, suggestive of the rolling note of the Carolina
wren but pitched lower and not as strident.

It was apparently common during the winter in Pinellas County, Fla., frequenting the sandy islands and ocean beaches in the vicinity of Tampa Bay; but we found it difficult to separate it, in immature and winter plumages, from young piping plover, unless we were near enough to recognize its slender bill; the difference in size was not noticeable except by direct comparison. I can find nothing in its nesting habits or in its behavior in which it differs from the Pacific snowy plover. I have not seen its eggs, but presume that they are like those of the western form.

CHARADRIUS MONGOLUS MONGOLUS Pallas

MONGOLIAN PLOVER

HABITS

According to the Rev. F. C. R. Jourdain:

This species is now known to be divided into two fairly
distinguishable subspecies, the typical race breeding in
Mongolia, Kamchatka, and Eastern Siberia as well as on the
Commander Islands, and wintering from the Philippines,
Celebes, etc., to New Guinea and Australia. It is this
form which has occurred in Alaska. _Charadrius mongolus
atrifrons_ Wagler, the western race, breeds from the
Kirghis Steppes in South Russia to the Himalayas and Tibet,
wintering in East Africa, Madagascar, the Seychelles,
India, Malacca, and the Great Sunda Isles.

Like several other Asiatic species, it occasionally wanders across Bering Strait into extreme northwestern Alaska. Joseph Dixon (1918) throws considerable doubt over the time-honored record of specimens supposed to have been taken by Captain Moore of the plover on the Choris Peninsula in the summer of 1849; his reasoning, which seems to be sound, suggests that these specimens were probably taken on the Siberian side. However, Alfred M. Bailey (1926) collected a male of this species at Cape Prince of Wales on June 11, 1922, of which he says:

The tundra was still snow covered, only a small, sandy
strip being bare along Lopp Lagoon, and there I found
this little wanderer from the Siberian shore in company
with yellow wagtails. A south wind had been blowing for a
few days previous, which changed to the north the evening
before. On these changes of winds I observed that Old World
birds were likely to drift across the channel.

Harry S. Swarth has very kindly given me, in advance of publication by the California Academy of Sciences, the latest records of the occurrence of this species in Alaska. While collecting for the academy on Nunivak Island, C. G. Harrold took two specimens, a female on August 14 and a male on September 1, 1927. Two others were seen on August 14, one on September 11, and one on September 13. It looks as if this might be more than a casual straggler in Alaska.

Dr. Leonhard Stejneger (1885) writes:

The Mongolian plover is a very common resident on the
Commander Islands; in fact, one of the most characteristic
birds of their fauna. It is one of the brightest and
handsomest shore birds, and is always gladly welcomed
when making its appearance during the first half of May.
I used then to watch with delight these elegant runners,
wondering at the almost incredible rapidity with which they
move their legs when chasing each other over the pebbly
beach, or trying to escape the approaching hunter. Very
soon, however, the pairs retire to the place chosen for the
summer home, and, as soon as the eggs are laid, the birds
become more shy and do not expose themselves as much as
they did before.

_Nesting._--There are three sets of eggs in the United States National Museum taken by Doctor Stejneger in the Commander Islands “during the first days of June.” He says that the birds “do not fly directly from the nest but run away a distance from it before taking wing,” which makes it difficult to find the nests. A nest he describes--

Was found on the islet Toporkof, on the 4th of June,
1883, and contained three eggs. They were lying, with
their pointed ends inwards and downwards, in a slight
hollow in the ground between the stems of four _Angelica
archangelica_. Dry particles of the leaves and stems of
this plant, and numerous seeds of the same, formed the
nest, being evidently brought together by the bird itself.
The situation of the nest was about 40 feet from the line
of high water and about 14 feet above the level of the sea.

Mr. Jourdain contributes the following:

Interesting confirmation of Doctor Stejneger’s observations
on the breeding habits and eggs of this species have been
furnished by the recent discovery of the breeding haunts
of the western race by Messrs. H. Whistler (1925) and B.
B. Osmaston (1927) at high altitudes in the Himalayan
range. Mr. Whistler found at least five pairs breeding
on the stony wastes near the Chandra Lake in Lahul, at
14,000 feet on July 10 to 11. Two clutches, each of three
well-incubated eggs and one brood of three downy young
were taken. Other pairs were subsequently found breeding
in Spiti (13,500 ft.) and on the northern slopes of the
Bara Lacha range. Mr. B. B. Osmaston found this species not
uncommon in South and East Ladakh in summer, between 13,000
and 15,500 feet. It was located as breeding in Rukshu near
the Tsokar and Tso Morari Lakes at about 15,000 feet and
between the Indus and Shushal at 14,000 to 14,500 feet, by
the Pangong Lake at 14,000 and in the upper Surun Valley at
13,000 feet.

In every case three eggs or young were found and the nest was a slight depression in the sand, among shingle (Osmaston, 1927), or in hollows among the trailing stems of a small creeping ground plant with a woodlike stem, sparingly lined with broken chips and fragments of the plant stems (Whistler 1925).

_Eggs._--The nine eggs collected by Doctor Stejneger vary in shape from ovate to ovate pyriform and they show no gloss. The ground colors vary from “cinnamon buff” to “deep olive buff.” They are quite evenly, but not heavily, marked with small spots of very dark browns, “warm sepia” to “bone brown,” or brownish black. There is a set of three eggs, which seems to be the usual number, in the collection of Col. John E. Thayer, taken at Omsk, Siberia, on June 9, 1893. These are subpyriform in shape, without gloss. The ground colors vary from “deep olive buff” to “pale olive buff.” One egg is uniformly covered with fine pen-like scrawls of “sepia” and “pale violet gray.” The others are marked, chiefly in a ring near the large end, with similar scrawls and with irregular spots of brownish black or black. The measurements of 15 eggs average 35.2 by 26.2 millimeters; the eggs showing the four extremes measure =37.5= by 27, 32 by =28.8= and =30.5= by =23.2= millimeters.

Mr. Jourdain says in his notes:

The 12 eggs taken by Osmaston (1927) averaged 36.7 by 26.3,
while the 6 obtained by Whistler (1925) averaged 38.4 by
26.5 millimeters, thus agreeing well on the whole with
those of the eastern race, but are as a rule rather larger.
The coloration is also similar, speckled with dark brown
spots on a ground of creamy stone.

The parent bird slips off the nest very quietly and returns
very cautiously by short runs. It is naturally very
difficult to follow in the great waste of sand and shingle.
When disturbed on the breeding ground the old birds behave
much as other sand plovers, flying round uneasily in
circles and running about swiftly, but were less noisy than
common or lesser ringed plovers.

_Young._--Doctor Stejneger (1885) says that the young ones are found--

about the middle of July. About this time the families
retire from the beach and are now met with in the interior,
where they ascend the mountains in search of tender
insects. I frequently met them at an altitude of 1,000 feet
or more above sea level. About the middle of September the
families return to the lowlands and to the beach, soon
afterwards leaving the islands.

While at Glinka, on Copper Island, in July, 1883, a
young bird of this species, not yet fully feathered, was
brought to me alive. Allowed to run free on the floor it
immediately commenced a very animated pursuit of the rather
numerous flies, which were caught with remarkable precision
and rapidity and devoured with an unsatiable appetite. The
little fellow did not pay any attention to the presence of
several persons in the small room, but when the dog rose
from his nap in the corner, the swift-footed fly killer
suddenly dropped flat on the floor, with withdrawn neck,
making himself as small and flat as possible, and remained
thus perfectly immovable until the dog turned his head the
other way, then he ran off to the darkest corner of the
room, where he remained until the former laid down in his
old place. Then he started the fly hunting again; the dog
rose once more, and the same performance was repeated.
Within half an hour, however, he had learned that the dog
did not take any notice of him whatever, and consequently
he afterwards paid as little attention to the dog as to man.

_Plumages._--The young bird referred to above was about half grown and largely feathered when it died, but the specimen shows a little of the natal down, mainly on the head, which is largely downy. The forehead is buffy white, the crown mostly dark “bister,” and the sides of the head are mottled with buffy and “bister”; the throat is pale buff. The remiges are half grown and the new feathers of the mantle are “sepia,” with “cinnamon-buff” tips; the feathers of the breast are “cinnamon buff” or “pinkish buff” and those of the belly are white.

Evidently the juvenal plumage soon fades, for a specimen taken on September 22, in full juvenal plumage, is much paler. The entire upper parts are “hair brown” or “drab,” with narrow, pale, buffy edgings; the forehead and under parts are white, but the breast is suffused with “pinkish buff” and invaded on the sides with the “drab” of the upper parts.

There is not sufficient material to show the molts and plumages satisfactorily. Adults have a complete molt in August and September, at which the cinnamon of the chest, neck, and head entirely disappears.

_Voice._--Doctor Stejneger (1885) says that “the call note is a clear, penetrating _drrrriit_.” Mr. Jourdain adds: “The call note is described by Whistler as a soft _twip_, and the alarm note as a sort of chatter of two syllables _corr up_, not unlike the note of a frog and compared by Osmaston to that of a nightjar. It is uttered usually on the wing and also occasionally on the ground.”

DISTRIBUTION

_Range._--Eastern Asia and Oceanica; accidental in Alaska.

_Breeding range._--This race of the Mongolian plover breeds chiefly in northeastern Siberia (Cape Serdze, Bering Island, Kamchatka, and the Commander Islands); probably also in Dauria and Mongolia.

_Winter range._--The winter range includes the Philippine Islands, the Moluccas, New Guinea, and northern Australia.

_Migration._--The species has been noted to arrive in spring at Yokohama, Japan, on April 28, and at Bering Island, on May 11. A late fall date on Bering Island is September 22.

_Casual records._--On June 11, 1925, an adult male was collected at Cape Prince of Wales (Bailey). Two specimens were taken by C. G. Harrold on Nunivak Island, Alaska, in 1927, one on August 14, and one on September 1; others were seen on August 14 and September 11 and 13. These are the only North American records.

_Egg dates._--Bering Island, June 4. Siberia, June 9.

PAGOLLA WILSONIA WILSONIA (Ord.)

WILSON PLOVER

HABITS

All along the Atlantic coast from New Jersey to Florida is a broken chain of sea-girt islands, with broad or steep, sandy or shelly beaches on the ocean side, backed in many places by shifting sand dunes and bordered on the inner or bay side by wide marshes of waving grass or extensive flats exposed at low tide. Here, on the broader, more open sand flats, among a scattered array of shells, pebbles, and other débris cast up by the sea, or in the flat hollows among the sand dunes, this little sand plover makes its home, within sound of the pounding surf and fanned by the ocean breezes that carve the dunes into fantastic shapes. Here, if we love to wander in these seaside solitudes, we may see this gentle bird running along the beach ahead of us, his feet twinkling so fast that we can hardly see them; he is unafraid, as he stops and turns to watch us; the black bands on his head and breast help to obliterate his form and he might be mistaken for an old seashell or bit of driftwood; but, as we draw near, he turns and runs on ahead of us, leading us thus on and on up the beach. There is an air of gentleness in his manner and an air of wildness in his note as he flies away.

_Spring._--As the northern limit of the winter range extends well up to central Florida, the Wilson plover has not far to migrate. It is an early migrant. We saw it in Pinellas County, Fla., as early as February 7, where a few were present all winter. C. J. Pennock’s notes record it at Charlotte Harbor on February 21 and 24, on two successive years. Arthur T. Wayne (1910) says that it arrives in South Carolina late in March; his earliest date is March 26.

_Courtship._--During the month of March, when this species became common in the vicinity of Tampa Bay, Fla., I had some opportunities to watch its simple courtship display. A male shot on March 14 had sexual organs developed nearly to full breeding size and many of the birds were in pairs. In making the display the male runs around the female in a crouching, hunchbacked attitude, with the head lowered, the tail depressed and spread, and the wings drooping. The female seems indifferent at first, but finally she accepts the caresses of the male. They seem to be preoccupied in their love affairs and allow a close approach.

_Nesting._--On the sandy reefs and broad ocean beaches of the outer islands about Bulls Bay, S. C., we found several nests of Wilson plover on May 22 and 23, 1915. The nests were on the higher portions of the beaches where the dry, sandy plains were sprinkled with bits of broken shells, small stones, and pieces of driftwood or other rubbish and where a few scattered weeds and grasses were the only signs of vegetation. The nests were usually placed near some such object, or partially sheltered by a few blades of grass, but some were out on the open sand or in the flat sandy hollows between the dunes; they were always beyond the reach of ordinary tides. Oyster-catchers and least terns were nesting in the same localities and not far away willets were nesting in the grassy places.

Among the Florida Keys, on May 8, 1903, we found a small colony nesting on Lake Key; there were beaches of finely broken shells surrounding a small shallow pond, more or less overgrown with small, scattered red mangroves. A colony of least terns were nesting here and a few pairs of black-necked stilts. Four nests of the plover were found, one out on the open beach among the terns’ nests and the others under the shelter of little mangrove seedlings. These and all the other nests of Wilson plover that I have found were mere hollows in the sand with no apparent attempt at lining, but others have occasionally found them evidently lined with bits of broken shell. Henry Thurston (1913) found a nest “snuggled closely to the stump” of a “ripped up” palmetto; the eggs were “resting in a small hole that had been scooped out in the sand and adorned with a few twigs.” He left this nest and returned later in an attempt to see the female leave the nest. As, he “got within a few yards the male, unobserved before as he was facing him and was therefore practically invisible, piped several notes. Swiftly and mouse-like the female glided from her treasures, crouching low beside the stump and did not stand erect until she reached the water’s edge.”

The Wilson plover might almost be said to nest in colonies, although the nests are usually not close together; N. B. Moore says in his notes that they are never nearer than 20 yards apart. Oscar E. Baynard (1914) found a colony of at least 50 pairs nesting on a bank of white sand, probably half a mile long and barely a foot above high-water line. He relates an interesting experience in changing eggs from one nest to another. One of a set of three heavily incubated eggs that he had taken hatched out in his possession; as he could not find the nest from which they came, he hunted up another nest which contained fresh eggs; and following is his account of what happened:

I took these eggs and placed the young bird and my two eggs
in their place, and then moved off and sat down to watch
developments. In a few minutes the mother bird ran up to
the nest, looked hard at the young bird, which had run off
about 2 feet from the eggs, circled the nest several times,
and then squatted down on the two eggs and began calling
softly to the young bird. In a few minutes he crept up to
the old bird. She looked him over for fully two minutes,
then decided to adopt him, raked him under her out of the
sun, and settled down as contentedly as if the family were
really her own. Two days later I ran the boat close to the
beach opposite this nest. The old bird ran off, and up
jumped three young and took off up the beach after her.

Donald J. Nicholson tells me that he once found a nest “about three-quarters of the way up the side of a sand dune under the shelter of a small bunch of grass.” He has also found this plover breeding on Merritts Island, Fla., “on the exposed sandy patches along the Indian River and around the water holes throughout the island”; here some of the nests were sheltered among open growths of pickerel weed or _Salicornia_.

Dr. Frank M. Chapman (1891) found this bird breeding commonly near Corpus Christi, Tex., and says: “A nest found April 25 was placed in some short grass about 50 feet from the water. It was composed of a few straws placed at the bottom of a slight depression in the sand, and contained three fresh eggs.”

_Eggs._--The Wilson plover ordinarily lays three eggs, often only two, and very rarely four; I have a set of four eggs in my collection, taken by Dr. Eugene E. Murphey on the coast of South Carolina. N. B. Moore says in his notes that a day often intervened between the laying of eggs, once an interval of two days occurred and in one nest the third egg was laid on the ninth day after the first. The eggs are ovate to short ovate in shape and they have no gloss. The ground colors vary from “cream buff” to “cartridge buff.” They are usually thickly and quite evenly covered with small spots, small irregular blotches and scrawls of black, with a few similar, underlying markings of pale shades of “Quaker drab.” The measurements of 66 eggs average 35.7 by 26.2 millimeters; the eggs showing the four extremes measure =38.5= by 26, 37 by =27=, =31.5= by 26, and 34 by =25= millimeters.

_Young._--N. B. Moore observed that the period of incubation is 24 or 25 days. I have no data showing that the male shares in the duty of incubation, but he certainly shows considerable interest in the care of the young. The young are able to leave the nesting hollow soon after they are hatched and they are strong and swift runners, as well as adept in the art of hiding. The female is a past master in the art of decoying an intruder away from her young. Mr. Thurston (1913) has described this strategy very well, as follows: