Part 2 — Family CHARADRIIDAE, Plovers (continued 4)

A colony of piping plovers on the same beach had been much reduced in numbers but the behavior of one pair showed that they had young on the beach. We saw one plover and then another fluttering along the ground like young or crippled birds. Their actions might deceive a novice, but by watching them with a glass, we soon saw that they were adult birds. They threw themselves on the ground, breast downward, and, drooping the flight feathers or primaries, raised and agitated the shorter secondaries, until the motion resembled the fluttering pinions of young or wounded birds, meantime pushing themselves along over the sand with their feet. As the wings were not spread, the long primary quills were not noticeable, and so the imitation of the struggles of a helpless bird was almost perfect. Immediately we began a careful search for the nest, looking in all the usual hiding places in or under the tufts of beach grass, but no nest could we find. As the old birds continued their plaintive cries and circled about, we extended our search, expecting to find some half-grown young flattened out somewhere on the beach. Finally, by hunting over the sand we found on the open beach, a nest exactly like that of the least tern. A few little pebbles had been grouped in a slight hollow, and there, partly beside and partly on the pebbles, lay three lovely little downy chicks and one egg. We attempted to photograph the parents, but they would not come to the young; and, as the little ones had already begun to run, about, we sunk an old barrel in the beach, and put them and the egg in it, that we might know where to find them on the morrow.

The day was foggy and cold, and during the night a thunderstorm drenched the earth; but the next morning the egg had disappeared, and four lively youngsters were running around in our barrel. They were now so active, that if one were liberated it would be rather difficult to catch it, while if hidden, it would be almost impossible to find it.

We kept them there two days, until we made sure that the parents never fed them. They brooded them quite constantly, but brought no food whatever, and we made certain that the young were able and willing to find their own food within 24 hours after they were out of the shell. It was seen that unless they were liberated from the barrel they would soon starve to death.

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

As I approached this strip, seemingly from nowhere there appeared a female plover, calling plaintively. Now I knew that the season of nesting had begun. She was soon joined by a male and another female that chorused with her their wishes for my departure. How she coaxed me to follow her! This I did for a time, trailing behind as she struggled along on one leg, the other crumpled under her. Tediously she kept ahead, calling—sobbing, I should have said—one of the most pathetic yet beautiful notes I have heard. Surely if ever there was a picture of parental distress it was she. Finally, as though exhausted, she sank to the sand and lay on her side gasping. The other two flew back and forth overhead, whistling plaintively, but she heeded them not, nor my approach, and lay there panting. I was sure now that she was tired by her exertion and hurried to catch her, only to learn that she was “playing possum.” She allowed me to almost touch her, and fluttered off again. Evidently she was not satisfied that her nest was safe and she tried new tactics this time. With seemingly broken wings that trailed as though helpless at her sides, she started down the beach and once more I followed after, but this time increased my speed. As I had about caught up with her she gave a joyous whistle, sprang into the air, and those wounded wings carried her like a bullet around a point of wooded land and out of sight. She had accomplished her purpose, as I had hopelessly lost the place from which she started. Search as I might, and did, I could not find it.

Plumages.—The upper parts of the downy young Wilson plover are of about the same color pattern as the egg to make it equally invisible on the sand. The crown, back, rump, wings, and thighs are “cream buff,” mottled with black; the forehead, sides of the head, and under parts are white; there is a broad white collar around the neck, and the outer joint of the wing is white.

The juvenal plumage, in what specimens I have seen, July 20 to 27, is much like that of the adult female in winter, but the colors are duller and the breast band is incomplete or only suggested. Perhaps earlier in the season these birds might have shown buffy edgings which had since worn away. Probably a postjuvenal molt takes place, but I have not been able to trace it. In the first winter plumage the sexes are alike; but at the first prenuptial molt, in February and March, the male assumes, partially at least, the black markings on the head and breast. At the next complete molt, the first postnuptial, the adult winter plumage is acquired.

Adults have an incomplete prenuptial molt, from January to March, involving the body plumage, and a complete postnuptial molt, from July to October. The sexes are quite unlike in nuptial plumage, the black markings on the head and breast of the male being replaced by “wood brown” in the female. In winter they are much alike, but I believe that in fully adult males there is always more or less black in the breast band.

Food.—Audubon (1840) says of these birds:

They feed fully as much by night as by day, and the large eyes of this, as of other species of the genus, seem to fit them for nocturnal searchings. Their food consists principally of small marine insects, minute shellfish, and sand worms, with which they mix particles of sand.

The stomachs of five birds taken on the coast of Alabama by Arthur H. Howell (1924) contained “crabs and shrimps, with a few mollusks and flies.” One taken in Porto Rico by Stuart T. Danforth (1926) contained Dytiscid larvae and adults.

Behavior.—Audubon (1840) describes the behavior of this plover very well, as follows:

The flight of this species, is rapid, elegant, and protracted. While traveling from one sand beach or island to another, they fly low over the land or water, emitting a fine, clear, soft note. Now and then, when after the breeding season they form into flocks of 20 or 30, they perform various evolutions in the air, cutting backward and forward, as if inspecting the spot on which they wish to alight, and then suddenly descend, sometimes on the sea beach and sometimes on the more elevated sands at a little distance from it. They do not run so nimbly as the piping plovers nor are they nearly so shy. I have in fact frequently walked up so as to be within 10 yards or so of them. They seldom mix with other species, and they show a decided preference to solitary uninhabited spots.

Voice.—My field notes, written over 20 years ago, refer to Wilson plover flying about their breeding grounds, whistling their musical call notes, somewhat suggestive of the notes of the piping plover, but not so loud nor so rich in tone. Francis M. Weston writes to me that “the note of anxiety, when on the ground, is a sharp wheet, beween a chirp and a whistle. On the wing, it gives a low tut-tut, somewhat like the alarm note of the wood thrush, but pitched lower and never of more than two syllables.” C. J. Pennock says, in his notes, that when they have eggs or young “they fly about close overhead, or run along the sand, calling queet, queet, quit it, quit it, in a high-pitched tone, frequently three or four birds joining in the vocal protest.” John T. Nichols says in his notes: “The commonest note of this species on the ground and on the wing is a ternlike quip, sometimes double qui-pip. Less frequently, on the ground, it has a surprisingly human whistled whip.”

Field marks.—The best field character of the Wilson plover is the long, heavy, wholly black bill, which is very conspicuous in all plumages; it is relatively larger and more prominent than that of the black-bellied plover. The Wilson is decidedly larger than the semipalmated or the piping plover; it is slightly lighter in color than the former and much darker than the latter. I have noticed that in flight it appears quite dark colored above, with no conspicuous white except in the lateral tail feathers.

Winter.—We recorded this species as a winter resident on the west coast of Florida as far north as Tampa Bay, but it was rare in midwinter and did not become common until March. It frequented the sand bars and sandy islands on the Gulf shore, together with other small plovers and sandpipers. It was much tamer than any of the other shore birds and less active; it was the only one of the whole tribe that could be openly approached on the unprotected beaches. It was usually seen singly, apart from the others, and never in flocks.

DISTRIBUTION

Range.—Southern United States, the West Indies, Central and South America.

Breeding range.—The Wilson plover breeds north to probably Lower California (La Paz); Texas (Brownsville, Corpus Christi, probably Rockport, probably Matagorda Island, Houston, and Galveston); Louisiana (probably Cameron Parish and the Breton Island Reservation); Mississippi (Dog Key); probably Alabama (Bayou Labatre and Dauphin Island); western Florida (Milton and probably James Island); and formerly New Jersey (Beach Haven). East to formerly New Jersey (Beach Haven, probably Great Egg Harbor, and Cape May); Virginia (Cobb Island and Cape Charles); North Carolina (Pea Island, Beaufort, and Cape Fear); South Carolina (Bulls Bay, Sullivan Island, and Frogmore); Georgia (Tybee Island, Ossabaw Island, and Blackbeard Island); the east coast of Florida (Fernandina, Amelia Island, Matanzas Inlet, Mosquito Inlet, and Coronado Beach); the Bahama Islands (New Providence, Rum Cay, and Inagua Island); and probably Porto Rico. South to probably Porto Rico; probably Jamaica (Great Salt Pond and Port Henderson); probably Cuba (Trinidad); and British Honduras (Grassy Cay). West to British Honduras (Grassy Cay); Gulf of California; and probably Lower California (La Paz).

The status of the species in the southern part of its summer range has not yet been definitely settled, and some alleged races have been described, whose breeding ranges are undoubtedly included in the summary given above.

Winter range.—The species has been detected in winter north to Lower California (San Jose Island); Sonora (Guaymas); Texas (probably rarely Brownsville and Matagorda County); probably Louisiana (Vermilion Bay); Mississippi (Hancock County); and Florida (mouth of the St. Johns River). East to Florida (mouth of the St. Johns River, St. Augustine, New Smyrna, and Key West); the Bahama Islands (Andros Islands and Watling Island); probably Santo Domingo (Samana); probably Porto Rico (Culebra Island and Vieques Island); the Lesser Antilles (Anegada); French Guiana (Cayenne and Rio Oyapok); and Brazil (Cajetuba, Bahia, and Camamu). South to Brazil (Camamu); and Peru (Tumbez). West to Peru (Tumbez); Ecuador (Puna Island); Colombia (Cartagena and Sabanilla); Honduras (Swan Islands); Guatemala (Chiapam); and Lower California (La Paz and San Jose Island).

Spring migration.—Early dates of spring arrival are Georgia, Cumberland, March 18, and Darien, March 19; South Carolina, Bulls Point, March 10, Frogmore, March 20, and Mount Pleasant, March 26; North Carolina, Fort Macon, April 15, and Pea and Bodie Islands, April 24; and Virginia, Toms Brook, April 8.

Fall migration.—Almost nothing is known about the fall migration of this plover but Wayne (1910) says that it remains on the beaches of South Carolina “until September 22, or perhaps until October.”

Casual records.—Wilson plovers have been noted or collected on several occasions outside of their normal range. Most of these have naturally been in New York and on the coast of New England. Among them are: New York, three at Far Rockaway, May 17, 1879, one at Shinnecock Bay, May 16, 1884, one at Good Ground, May 28, 1879, Orient, July 3, 1915, and Long Beach, July 1, 1872; Connecticut, taken once at Stratford, and seen at Bridgeport on July 28, 1888; Massachusetts, Gurnet Point, August 22, 1877, one at Ipswich, May 8, 1904, and about 25 reported as seen at Dennis, September 4, 1920; Nova Scotia, one at Brier Island, April 28, 1880; and one from Halifax that is preserved in the British Museum; and California, one taken at Pacific Beach, June 27, 1894, and another seen at Imperial Beach, May 11, 1918.

Egg dates.—Virginia: 22 records, May 4 to June 20; 11 records, May 27 to June 6. South Carolina and Georgia: 50 records, April 14 to June 21; 25 records, May 17 to June 10. Florida: 26 records, April 2 to July 10; 13 records, May 12 to June 11. Texas: 11 records, April 7 to June 18; 6 records, April 20 to May 19.

PODASOCYS MONTANUS (J. K. Townsend)

MOUNTAIN PLOVER

HABITS

The above name is not especially appropriate for this species. The name, Rocky Mountain plover, would have been better, for its breeding range is mainly in the Rocky Mountain plateau. It frequents elevated ground but it is not a bird of the mountains but of the dry plains. Coues (1874) says:

While most other plovers haunt the vicinity of water, to which some are almost confined, the present species is not in the least degree of aquatic habits, but, on the contrary, resorts to plains as dry and sterile as any of our country—sometimes the grassy prairies, with shore larks and titlarks, various ground sparrows, and the burrowing owl; sometimes sandy deserts, where the sage brush and the “chamizo,” the prickly pear and the Spanish bayonet, grow in full luxuriance. It approaches the Pacific, but will never be found on the beach itself, with maritime birds, nor even on the adjoining mud-flats or marshes, preferring the firm, grassy fields further back from the water.

Nesting.—W. C. Bradbury (1918) has given us a very good account of the nesting habits of the mountain plover in Colorado. Of the nesting site and nest he says:

The ground is an open, rolling prairie, above the line of irrigation, and is devoted to cattle range. It is several miles from natural surface water and streams, and is covered with short-cropped buffalo or gramma grass, 2 or 3 inches high, with frequent bunches of dwarfed prickly pear, and an occasional cluster of stunted shrub or weed, rarely more than a foot in height. With the six sets secured, in no instance had the parent bird taken advantage of the slight protection offered from sight or the elements by the nearby cactus, shrubs or uneven spots of ground. In each case, she had avoided such shelter, locating in the open, generally between the small grass hummocks and not on or in them; there was no evidence of the parent birds having given more thought to nest preparation or concealment, than does any other plover. In two of the sets the eggs were all individually embedded in the baked earth to a depth of one-eighth to one-fourth of an inch, evidently having settled when the surface of the ground was reduced to soft mud by rain-water collecting in the slight depressions. As the ground dried up the eggs were fixed in a perfect mould or matrix, from which they could not roll. In fact they could hardly be disturbed at all by the sitting birds. The only nesting material was a small quantity of fine, dry rootlets and “crowns” of gramma grass, the eggs in some instances being slightly embedded in this lining. As it is also present in all other depressions on the prairie it is highly probable that here as elsewhere it was deposited about the eggs by the wind and not through the agency of the birds themselves. The protective coloration of the nest and eggs, as well as of the rear view of the birds themselves, even when in motion, is unsurpassed. In no instance, except one hereinafter noted, was the bird seen to leave the nest, nor was any nest found except in the immediate vicinity of moving birds.

H. G. Hoskin (1893) writes:

The mountain plover builds its nest on open prairie. The first egg is laid on bare ground, and as the set is finished and incubation advances the bird gradually makes a nest of dirt, pieces of hard grass, roots, etc. It takes five or six days to complete set of three eggs. I have never found more nor less than three eggs in a nest that I thought complete. Old birds will fly off the nest while a person on foot is 80 rods away, but will sit closely for man on horseback or in a buggy.

William G. Smith (1888) found three nests while traveling by wagon across the Laramie Plains in Wyoming. “They were all placed within 50 yards of the much-frequented roadway, and each time I saw the female sitting on the eggs. The old birds are very white which contrasts with the dark ground and causes them to be easily seen.” The art of feigning lameness or injury, to entice the intruder away from eggs or young, seems to be very highly developed in this species. Mr. Smith speaks of one that seemed to be in a fit, as it lay on its side, within 6 feet of him, “apparently in strong convulsions.” Mr. Bradbury (1918) tells of one that, “spreading her wings horizontally to their extreme width while standing, then falling flat with her neck and wings extended their full length on the ground, at times with beak open, she retreated as he approached, or followed closely as he returned toward the nest.”

Eggs.—The mountain plover lays almost invariably three eggs, occasionally only two, and four eggs have been recorded. They are ovate to short ovate in shape, with no gloss. The prevailing ground colors are “deep olive buff” or “dark olive buff”; some few are “chamois” and one pink set has a “light pinkish cinnamon” ground color. They are irregularly marked, but chiefly near the larger end, with small spots and scrawls of black, which sometimes form a ring near the larger end. The measurments of 58 eggs average 37.3 by 28.3 millimeters; the eggs showing the four extremes measure 40 by 28.5, 37.5 by 29.2, 34.3 by 28.4, and 38.5 by 27 millimeters.

Young.—Apparently both sexes incubate; an incubating male has been taken. William G. Smith says in his notes:

The young are very nimble when only a few days old, and it is quite a task to catch them. They do not attempt to hide. A peculiarity of these birds is, though three eggs are generally laid, I never saw but two young with the old birds. I lived on the prairies for six years, a mile from any other habitation; I had every opportunity to observe the traits of these birds. When they are well able to run each of the old birds takes one to raise, and that method seems the rule.

Edward R. Warren’s (1912) observations do not agree with the above, for he has seen a parent with three young and has seen the young attempt to hide; but he says “it was easily seen when once found, for its colors did not blend particularly well with the ground it was on.”

Plumages.—In the downy young mountain plover the upper parts are “cream buff,” tinged with “chamois” on the crown, wings, and rump, shading off to buffy white on the throat and under parts; the crown, sides of the neck, occiput, back, wings, rump, and thighs are conspicuously spotted with black; the forehead is unmarked. Young birds, about half grown, show the juvenal plumage coming in on the back, scapulars, crown, and sides of the breast, with the wing quills bursting their sheaths.

In full juvenal plumage, in September, the crown, back, scapulars, and wing coverts are “buffy brown,” with “cinnamon-buff” edges, broadest on the wing coverts; the sides of the head are “pinkish buff” and the breast and flanks are suffused with the same color; the throat and belly are white. This plumage seems to be worn without much change, except by wear and fading, all through the first fall and winter. The upper parts are still mainly “buffy brown,” but with only the faintest trace of the edgings. The spring molt apparently does not involve the wing coverts and very few scapulars, so that young birds can be recognized by these retained feathers.

Adults have a partial prenuptial molt in March and April, involving the body plumage but not the wings and tail and not all the scapulars and wing coverts. The black markings on the head are acquired and the new feathers of the mantle are broadly tipped with “pinkish buff.” The complete postnuptial molt is accomplished in July and August. The winter plumage is similar to the nuptial, except that the black loral patch is lacking and the black crown patch is replaced by dull brown.

Food.—Feeding on the dry upland plains and prairies, the mountain plover’s food consists almost wholly, if not entirely, of insects. Grasshoppers seem to be its principal food, but many crickets, beetles, and flies are eaten. It seems to be a wholly beneficial species. Grinnell, Bryant, and Storer (1918) quote Belding as saying “that he often found this plover in recently sown grain fields, but was never able to discover a single kernel of wheat in the stomachs of those he shot.”

Behavior.—Coues (1874) writes:

They were not difficult of approach, and I had no difficulty in securing as many as I desired. On being disturbed by too near approach, they lower the head, run rapidly a few steps in a light, easy way, and then stop abruptly, drawing themselves up to their full height and looking around with timid yet unsuspicious glances. When forced to fly by persistent annoyance, they rise rapidly with quick wing beats and then proceed with alternate sailing and flapping, during the former action holding the wings decurved. They generally fly low over the ground and soon realight, taking a few mincing steps as they touch the ground; they then either squat low, in hopes of hiding, or stand on tip-toe, as it were, for a better view of what alarmed them.

Grinnell, Bryant, and Storer (1918) say:

This plover is a flocking species found in bands of from fifteen to several hundred individuals. Often upon alighting after they have been in flight, the birds will immediately run to some distance, so that it is not always possible to follow them up easily as with other shore birds. The flocks fly low over the ground and are difficult to see, except when they wheel. As they do this the under surfaces of their wings show momentarily as silvery white flashes.

Aiken and Warren (1914) say:

The mountain plover differs greatly in habits and characteristics from its near relative the killdeer. It shows no preference for wet ground but on the contrary frequents mesas or high rolling prairie land, often remote from water. Their manner is quiet; they have no wailing cry; they run rapidly a short distance and stand silent and motionless with the head sunk low on the shoulders. Their unspotted plumage blends with the color of the dry grass and parched ground and makes them difficult to discover. But in August, when the young birds shift for themselves, they gather in flocks and repair to the vicinity of water holes and flooded fields.

William G. Smith says in his notes:

We have often foretold a hailstorm, which are very prevalent here in summer, by these birds coming near the house for protection; at these times they seem bewildered, and nothing will drive them away.

Voice.—Coues (1874) says on this subject:

Their notes are rather peculiar, as compared with those of our other plovers, and vary a good deal, according to circumstances. When the birds are feeding at their leisure, and in no way apprehensive of danger, they utter a low and rather pleasing whistle, though in a somewhat drawling or rather lisping tone; but the note changes to a louder and higher one, sometimes sounding harshly.

Field marks.—The mountain plover may be recognized as a medium sized plover, dressed in plain colors. In the spring the black markings on the head are visible at short range, but otherwise it is dull, sandy brown above and white below, without the conspicuous markings of the killdeer. In flight its axillars and the under sides of its wings are conspicuously white.

Game.—This species once figured as a game bird and many were shot and sold as game in the California markets. It was a fair-sized bird of some food value, but it was not so highly prized, as a table bird, when compared with some others. John G. Tyler (1916) writes:

Had not the Federal law intervened these birds would soon have disappeared forever, as their habits made them a very easy victim for hunters. The birds feed in loose scattered flocks, ranging over much ground, but when sufficiently disturbed all the members of a company take wing and form into a dense flock which, after beating rapidly back and forth for a few moments, usually settles again within a few yards of the intruder, a full hundred birds often occupying a space no larger than 20 feet in diameter. As they alight each bird flattens itself upon the ground where its protective coloration renders it all but invisible save for the winking of its very large eyes.

As one old resident stated, a favorite method of hunting was to drive with a horse and buggy among the scattered birds and cause them to take wing, whereupon the horse was brought to a standstill until the birds had again settled on the ground, and in nearly every case this was within easy gun range. The hunter immediately “ground sluiced” them with one barrel just as they “squatted” and fired again as the survivors took wing. My informant stated that he once killed 65 birds with two shots, and this method very rarely netted less than 30. I was informed that this plover was rated as the best table bird in this part of the State and that parties sometimes came from points as far away as San Francisco to hunt them. Verily, as my friend remarked, “they don’t seem to be as plentiful as they were 25 years ago.”

DISTRIBUTION

Range.—Western United States and Mexico; accidental in Florida and Massachusetts.

Breeding range.—The mountain plover breeds north to Montana (Great Falls, Fort Benton, Big Sandy, and the mouth of Milk River); and North Dakota (Stump Lake). East to North Dakota (Stump Lake and probably Hankison); western South Dakota (Edgemont); Nebraska (probably Harrison, probably Marsland, North Platte, and Kearney); Kansas (Colby, Oakley, probably Hays, Garden City, and probably Fort Dodge); and Oklahoma (probably Camp Supply and Fort Cobb). South to Oklahoma (Fort Cobb); Texas (Washburn, Hereford, and probably Fort Davis); New Mexico (Otero County and Socorro County); and probably Arizona (Fort Whipple). West to probably Arizona (Fort Whipple); Colorado (probably Del Norte, Denver, Barr, and Loveland); Wyoming (Cheyenne, Laramie, probably Fort Bridger, and probably Dubois); Idaho (Pahsimeroi Valley); and Montana (Three Forks and Great Falls).

Winter range.—The mountain plover has the curious habit of occupying a winter range that is farther west than its summer home. North to California (probably rarely Marysville); Arizona (Santa Rosa, Buenos Ayres, and Allaires Ranch); and Texas (San Antonio). East to Texas (San Antonio, Eagle Pass, Aransas River, and Brownsville); Tamaulipas (Matamoros); and Zacatecas (Zacatecas). South to Zacatecas (Zacatecas); and Lower California (La Paz). West to Lower California (La Paz); Sonora (Santa Rosa and Hermosillo); and California (San Diego, Santa Ana, Los Angeles, Fort Tejon, Alila, Paicines, probably Stockton, and probably rarely Marysville).

Spring migration.—Sufficient data are not available to clearly define the migratory flights of the mountain plover but among early dates of spring arrival are: Oklahoma, Norman, March 15; Colorado, Loveland, March 18, Burlington, March 22, Barr, March 23, Springfield, March 29, Denver, April 6, and Colorado Springs, April 19; Wyoming, Cheyenne, April 5, Big Piney, April 12, and Fort Sanders, April 21; South Dakota, Huron, April 16; and Montana, Big Sandy, May 4, and Fort Custer, May 12.

A late date of spring departure from California is Santa Ysabel, April 3.

Fall migration.—Early dates of fall arrival in California are: Firebaugh, September 11, and Montebello, September 15.

Late dates of fall departure are Montana, Sun River, September 4, Camp Thorne, on the Yellowstone, September 13, and Big Sandy, September 18; South Dakota, Forestburg, September 20; Nebraska, Monroe Canyon, September 27; Wyoming, Efell, September 4, and Sweetwater, September 13; Colorado, Barr, October 12, and Beloit, October 15; and New Mexico, Santa Rosa, September 27, and Stinking Spring Lake, October 1.

Casual records.—The mountain plover has been detected outside of its normal range on but few occasions, three of which, curiously enough, were in Florida. A flock of six was noted on December 1, 1870, at Key West, and one specimen obtained (Maynard); R. W. Williams records several at St. James Island between July 20 and August 1, 1901; and on December 17, 1927, R. J. Longstreet secured a specimen at Daytona Beach. The only other record is one for Massachusetts, an immature male, taken at North Beach, near Chatham, on October 28, 1916, and preserved in the collections of the Boston Society of Natural History (Brooks).

The species is unknown from Canada. During the international boundary survey, Doctor Coues found mountain plover on Frenchman Creek and obtained a specimen that is now in the British Museum. This is reported as being labeled “forty-ninth parallel,” but the point of collection was probably well within the present State of Montana.

Egg dates.—Colorado and Kansas: 74 records, April 30 to June 16; 37 records, May 14 to 26. Montana and Wyoming: 4 records, May 22 to July 9.