Chapter L: L. Jewel (1913) writes (2)

Late dates of fall departure are: Mackenzie, Fort Anderson, August 2; Quebec, Koksoak River, September 4, Montreal, September 7, and Magdalen Islands, September 20; New Brunswick, Tabusintac, September 8; Prince Edward Island, New London, September 1; Maine, Hog Island, September 2, and Pine Point, September 23; Massachusetts, East Orleans, September 5, Monomoy Island, September 10, and Nantucket, October 2; Connecticut, Saybrook, October 13; New York, Lockport, October 2; and West Indies, Barbados, November 4.

There are a few records in the interior for this season, among which are: Ontario, Wolf Island, October 10, 1873; Pennsylvania, Erie, September 17, 1889; Ohio, Cincinnati, September, 1878; Michigan, Kalamazoo, October 28, 1879; Illinois, Summit, August 11, 1872; and Wisconsin, Fox Lake, September 10, 1912.

_Casual records._--The Eskimo curlew has been taken or reported from several points outside its normal range, among which are: Porto Rico, once near San Juan (Gundlach); Bermuda, September, 1874; Greenland, two records (Reinhardt); Pribilof Islands, St. Paul Island, May 26, 1872; “Bering Sea,” May 22, 1874; Siberia, Cape Wankarem, August 6, 1881; five records for Great Britain (Slains, Aberdeenshire, September 28, 1878; near Stonehaven, Kincardineshire, September 6, 1855; one on the Alde, Aldeburgh, Suffolk; one at Woodbridge, Suffolk; and one purchased in the flesh at Dublin, October 21, 1870); and Iceland (Kjaerbölling). The supposed occurrence of this species in southern California (San Diego region and near Tia Juana) probably refers to _N. hudsonicus_, as does also the record for the Galapagos Islands (Charles Island) and South Carolina (Charleston).

_Egg dates._--Mackenzie: 28 records, June 8 to July 12; 14 records, June 18 to 25.

NUMENIUS PHAEOPUS PHAEOPUS (Linnaeus)

WHIMBREL

_Contributed by Francis Charles Robert Jourdain_

HABITS

The latest and best authority on the birds of Greenland, E. Lehn Schiöler, writes that in all probability the whimbrel breeds on the southern part of the west coast of Greenland, perhaps generally in the south, but more especially in the southwest. The only other American record of this species is one from south of Sable Island, Nova Scotia, on May 25, 1906.

_Spring._--The whimbrel arrives on the British coasts from about mid-April to June 12, but is very frequently noted during the first days of May, from which it derives one of its local names, the “May bird.” On migration it prefers to haunt the low-lying coast and the adjacent country, feeding on the mud flats and marshes. When on the wing they fly at a great height, but can be recognized by their clear seven-syllabled whistle, _tetty, tetty, tetty, tet_.

_Courtship._--Practically nothing is recorded in the standard works on British ornithology on the courtship of this species, but some observations have been made both in Iceland and on the Shetlands. Reimschneider writes that in Iceland one hears its notes all through the long summer day and far into the night, a very long-drawn _kwiu_, uttered with inflated throat and scarcely opened bill. The nuptial song of the male is a long-drawn fluty trill, much slower and longer than the alarm note. The bird hardly rises above the ground, but flies with half opened bill for short distances, trilling, then makes quick and short wing strokes and slowly descends to earth again with extended wings, when the cry is again uttered. Bernard Hantzsch (1905) gives a fuller description, which, however, varies in some details. The male is perched on some hillock, from which with wide-opened bill he utters a rolling _di-di-di_. Now he is off, with his long feet trailing behind and head and neck outstretched. With short and very rapid wing strokes he rises high in the clear sky till almost out of sight, meanwhile uttering his soft fluty _du-du-du_, sometimes for minutes together. Then follows a slightly higher and quicker series of notes, ending with a beautiful, soft trill, louder and faster than that of the golden plover. He then descends spirally toward the nesting place, thence again starting on his upward flight. The female also trills, but the song flight is peculiar to the male.

_Nesting._--The breeding grounds of the whimbrel are the vast expanses of moorland, overgrown with heather and mosses, which are characteristic of the Arctic tundra. The actual nest is a well-defined hollow among the heather or rough grass, scantily lined with a few bits of ling or dry grass and moss. Some nests contain hardly any material and are merely pressed down and hollowed by the bird. They do not nest as a rule close together and the breeding place is jealously guarded by the male who rises fearlessly to attack and drive off almost any bird which approaches within a 100 yards of the eggs. Even skuas are attacked in this way, but where they are numerous the whimbrel stands but a poor chance of rearing young. In the Shetlands the eggs are laid in the last days of May and early in June, while in Iceland the normal time is at the beginning of June and exceptionally late in May.

_Eggs._--These are normally four in number, exceptionally three only, especially in late layings, and Hantzsch (1905) records one clutch of five. They are pyriform, and large for the size of the birds, with thin shells. The ground color varies as a rule from pale olive green to pale brownish buff, blotched and spotted with olive brown or reddish brown and with ashy grey shell markings. In some varieties the ground is a beautiful clear green and the blotches very bold and conspicuous, while another scarce type has a bluish grey ground with only large brownish ash blotches. The measurements of 100 eggs, by Doctor Rey and the writer, average 58.9 by 41.2 millimeters; the eggs showing the four extremes measure =65.1= by 41.7, 57 by =44=, =52= by 41.6 and 55.3 by =36= millimeters.

_Young._--Both sexes have incubation patches and from Chislett’s (1923) observations, confirmed also by Hantzsch, both share in the work. The only note we have as to the length of the period is that of Hantzsch (1905) who gives it as three to three and one-half weeks. In the case of a nest watched by Chislett the first two young hatched were led away by one bird while the other continued to incubate. This was on June 23 and the following day was cold with a high wind. The third chick wandered from the nest and was sometimes brooded by the incubating bird, which left the fourth egg for that purpose, but she never seemed thoroughly at ease except when covering both egg and chick. By the following morning the last chick had hatched out. Only one brood is reared in the season.

_Plumages._--The plumages and molts are fully described in A Practical Handbook of British Birds edited by H. S. Witherby (1920).

_Food._--This species feeds largely on earthworms, and also during the winter months on sandworms (_Arenicola_). Insects are also freely taken, chiefly beetles (Coleoptera), but also Orthoptera, especially earwigs (_Forficula_) and crickets (_Acheta_), larvae of flies (Diptera) etc. During the breeding season many small land mollusca are eaten, especially snails (_Helix ericetorum_), slugs (_Limax agrestris_), etc., and in the autumn, marine mollusca, both univalves and bivalves. Small Crustacea, including small crabs, shrimps (_Crangon_) and Gammaridae are also freely taken and the berries of moorland plants such as _Empetrum nigrum_ (crowberry) and _Vacinium myrtillus_.

_Behavior._--The boldness of this species in defending its nest has already been referred to. It has been frequently seen to attack and drive off birds much larger and more powerful than itself, such as the raven and the larger gulls. During the winter months it appears to be less of a shore feeder than the curlew, frequently visiting the inland marshes in preference to the mud flats and shores. Chislett (1923) describes its gait as quite different to that of the curlew, its progress being much more rapid and direct. Instead of approaching the nest in a leisurely way with many detours and pauses, it walks with rapid, jerky strides, almost directly to its objective.

_Enemies._--The large gulls and skuas, though often successfully driven off when approaching singly, are often successful in destroying the eggs or young where present in numbers and the enormous increase in the numbers of the great skua in the Shetlands has proved very detrimental to this species. In Iceland the Arctic fox is also an enemy to be counted with and the crow tribe (raven and hooded crow) are always ready to take advantage of any chance opportunity.

_Fall._--The young are fledged according to Hantzsch (1905) within a month of hatching and about the beginning of August begin to collect into flocks which increase in size daily. In the second half of August he records great flocks of over a hundred birds which leave the island about the middle of September. The latest date on which Jönsson records them on the Westmann Isles is October 10.

_Winter._--Exceptionally, small parties remain in Iceland during the winter. Thus in the winter of 1899–1900 they were noticed by many observers over Hjalteyri and the adjacent district. On the other hand, many individuals remain all the year round in their winter quarters, keeping together in small parties and evidently non-breeding birds.

DISTRIBUTION

_Breeding range._--In the British Isles, very sparingly and almost exterminated on certain islands in the Shetland group. A few pairs are said to have bred at various localities on the mainland, chiefly in the north of Scotland and perhaps also on some of the outlying isles. Breeds freely on the Faroes and Iceland and probably in southwest Greenland. On the continent and northern Scandinavia and Finland and in North Russia, south to Kanzan, Samara, Ufa, Perm, and Orenburg; also in West Siberia at least to Tara and Tobolsk, but in East Siberia replaced by _N. ph. variegatus_. Possibly also breeds in Russia in Voronezh, Kief, and the middle Urals, but proof still lacking.

_Winter range._--Passes through Europe and western Asia to the coasts of Africa south to Cape Province, Madagascar, the Seychelles, Comoro Isles, Aldabra, and Mauritius. In Asia to Arabia, passing through Iraq to West India, south to Ceylon and the Islands in the Bay of Bengal.

_Spring migration._--The average date of arrival of the migrating flocks at the Faroes is given as mid April, while in Iceland they arrive about the end of April or early in May; at the Westmann Isles on the south coast the earliest and latest dates are given as April 20 and May 5 by Jönsson.

_Fall migration._--The departure from Iceland begins about mid September, on the Westmann Isles between September 20 and October 10 (Jönsson), while the Faroes are abandoned by September 29 (exceptionally as late as October 3).

_Casual records._--It has occurred several times on Jan Meyen, once Bear Island (June 14, 1898), several times on Spitsbergen, and also on Kolguev. In the Atlantic it occurs on the Canaries, Madeira, the Azores, and the Cape Verde Islands. A specimen came on board a steamer in the vicinity of Sable Island, Nova Scotia, on May 23, 1906 (Latitude 43° north, Longitude 60° west); and one was obtained at Gilgo Inlet, Great South Bay, Long Island, N. Y., on September 4, 1912.

_Eggs dates._--In Scotland, May 19 to June 11 (13 dates); Faroes, June 4 to 24 (34 dates), May 25 (1 date); Iceland, June 4 to 23 (22 dates).

NUMENIUS TAHITIENSIS (Gmelin)

BRISTLE-THIGHED CURLEW

HABITS

Although this species has been recognized for over 140 years, surprisingly little has been learned or published about it. It was discovered by Latham in 1785 from Tahiti, the largest of the Society Islands, hence the specific name given by Gmelin in 1788, _Scolopax tahitiensis_. But the credit is due to Peale for discovering the most peculiar character of the species, the elongated shafts of some of the flank feathers which are lacking in barbs and from which we derive the name, “bristle-thighed.”

It was long supposed to be a bird of the South Pacific islands and the first birds captured in Alaska were regarded as accidental stragglers. During the last century there were only three published North American records, all for Alaska; the first specimen was taken by Bischoff on May 18, 1869, on the Kenai Peninsula, the second by Nelson on May 24, 1880, at St. Michael, and the third by Townsend on August 28, 1885, on the Kowak River. Since then it has been found to be a fairly common fall migrant in Alaska and it probably breeds somewhere in the interior of that territory.

_Spring._--Dr. E. W. Nelson (1887) gives the following account of the capture of his bird:

On May 24, 1880, while I was shooting black brant, a
pair of these birds settled near by on a rising stretch
of land covered with large tussocks. They uttered a loud
whistling call note very much like that of _hudsonicus_,
but something in their general appearance led me to stalk
and secure one of the birds. To my gratification it was a
bristle-thighed curlew, and I made great efforts to secure
the mate, which had stopped a hundred yards or so beyond.
As she raised on my approach I fired at long range and the
bird fell mortally hurt on a distant hillside, where it was
lost amid a host of large tussocks.

Bischoff’s bird was taken on May 18; and H. B. Conover (1926) collected one at Hooper Bay on May 22, 1924. These three dates, only six days apart, probably indicate the normal time of arrival of birds of this species in Alaska after their long flight over the Pacific Ocean from the Hawaiian Islands, the nearest of their winter resorts. This is a really wonderful flight and it is surprising that we have no evidence to indicate that they deviate from their direct course at all, as we have no records of any specimens from any point to the westward or to the southward of the Alaska Peninsula. The species is comparatively scarce on the Bering Sea coast of Alaska, from which we might infer that an overland flight is made from the vicinity of the Kenai Peninsula to the breeding grounds somewhere in the northern interior of Alaska.

_Summer._--The breeding grounds and the nesting habits of the bristle-thighed curlew are entirely unknown, an interesting problem for some enterprising ornithologist to work out. Mr. Conover (1926) suggests that “the main breeding ground is probably above the timber line on some of the mountain ranges” of Alaska. Herbert W. Brandt says in his notes:

From the native information I was able to gather I believe
that these birds may breed at the eastern end of the
Askinuk Mountains, or in the Kusilvak Mountains and perhaps
the mountains to the northward of Mountain Village on the
Yukon River. Their early loitering appearance at Hooper Bay
so shortly after nesting makes it entirely unlikely that
they had traveled very far, but it seems rather strange
that we did not encounter them in their spring migration
and further it is apparently doubtful that they should
enter the Bering Sea coast territory by following down
either the Yukon or the Kuskoquim River valleys.

Dr. Charles H. Townsend shot a specimen of this curlew at Kotzebue Sound (Kobuk River) on August 25; it was a young bird which had evidently recently come from its breeding grounds. We saw none of this species about Nome in July; but after I left, Rollo H. Beck, a member of our expedition, collected quite a series of them in August. Two of his birds, now in my collection, were taken at Cape Nome on August 24, 1911. Mr. Conover (1926) writes:

By the end of July we had entered the Kashunuk Slough and
traveled down it until we were about 20 miles from where
it enters Hooper Bay. At this place was an Eskimo village
where we stopped for a few days to have a goose drive;
and it was here that we saw the bristle-thighed curlew in
abundance. On July 31 a pair was seen and collected, and
on August 3 one more was taken. August 4 was the big day,
as several hundred of these birds were seen on the tundra
feeding on blueberries. About a dozen were taken by our
party, and I personally believe I saw over a hundred, while
another member of the expedition, who was off in another
direction, estimated that he saw three times as many. All
the specimens taken were old birds.

The above facts would seem to indicate that the main breeding grounds are somewhere in the interior of extreme northern Alaska, probably on the barren grounds; that the spring migration is well inland; and that there is a heavy fall migration along the Bering Sea coast. The eggs and downy young are entirely unknown and there are not enough specimens available to work out the molts and plumages, which probably correspond to those of closely related species.

_Food._--Probably the feeding habits of this curlew are not very different from those of the Hudsonian curlew, but the only food mentioned by observers consists of berries. Birds collected in Alaska were feeding on blueberries. They are said to feed on _Canthium_ berries in the Hawaiian Islands; and birds shot on Midway Island by Dr. Paul Bartsch (1922) were “crammed full of _Scaevola_ berries.”

_Behavior._--Doctor Bartsch (1922) found this bird “quite abundant on both” Midway Islands in November, “where in company with the golden plover it frequents all parts of the island excepting those covered by brush. These birds were quite tame as well as curious and when flushed would frequently fly about us, emitting their peculiar cry.”

Dill and Bryan (1912) reported about 250 on Laysan Island in the spring; they say:

Just before sunset and early in the morning the
bristle-thighed curlews would come up around our camp
uttering their peculiar complaining notes. They roosted on
the roofs of the old buildings at night, sometimes as many
as 20 birds in one flock. We saw them feeding on different
parts of the island but usually about the lagoon or along
the beaches.

Donald R. Dickey photographed a bristle-thighed curlew on Laysan Island in the act of robbing a nest of the man-o-war bird, of which he tells me:

This was not a sporadic bit of deviltry engaged in by
one perverted individual. Instead, it was characteristic
of most, if not all, of the curlews present on Laysan at
the time we were there. In other words, they indulged in
organized banditry, working about the island in troupes
accompanied by numbers of turnstones and an occasional
golden plover which were partners in crime with the curlew.
The turnstones jammed their bills straight into the
lighter-shelled eggs, but the curlew, frequently at least,
got access to the contents of the larger eggs by raising
them in their bills and then dropping them back on the hard
sand until they broke. They can pick up and run away with
an egg up to the size of a man-o-war bird’s egg. In the
case of the latter, the more dexterous birds seized the egg
and held it endwise in the bill. It seems difficult for
them to pick it up otherwise.

Dr. Alexander Wetmore has sent me the following notes on this subject:

That a bird of the shore-bird family should destroy eggs
may seem almost unbelievable in view of the habits ordinary
in this group, yet in work in the Hawaiian Bird Reservation
in 1923 we found the bristle-thighed curlew, as well as
the turnstone, making regular practice of eating the
eggs of the birds nesting on these distant islands. The
sooty and gray-backed terns were the greatest sufferers,
as the curlew drove their long bills through the eggs
with ease, or seized them in their long mandibles to
carry them away and eat them at their leisure. On close
observation we found that curlews attacked the eggs of all
birds indiscriminately, even pulling an egg from beneath
a frigate bird when the incubating bird raised on the
nest for a moment, the theft being committed so adroitly
that the egg seemingly was not missed. Mr. Donald Dickey
in his motion pictures succeeded in filming a spirited
scene in which a bristle-thighed curlew after a number of
attempts accomplished the seemingly impossible feat of
carrying away a frigate bird’s egg held firmly between its
mandibles, while a group of apparently admiring turnstones,
robbers themselves but incapable of such herculean acts
of banditry, scurried about in the background. On another
occasion a curlew flew up to a red-footed booby’s nest in a
bush several feet from the ground in the temporary absence
of the owner, impaled the egg, and dragged it away to be
devoured. The booby was still brooding disconsolately in
her empty nest two days later. On another day a curlew
deliberately opened an old albatross egg found in the sand
and ate eagerly from the putrid interior. As this egg had
been lying unprotected from the sun for at least four
months previous, its condition may be imagined, yet the
bird returned avidly again and again to continue its horrid
repast though I approached within 10 feet.

_Voice._--Mr. Conover (1926) says:

The call and appearance of this species are entirely
different from that of the Hudsonian curlew. The latter
gives a very short whistling call, which is roughly as
follows: _Whe-whe-whe-whe_. The former, on the other hand,
has a call very similar to one of the black-bellied plover
and sounds something like wheeeu-whu. In appearance the
bristle-thigh is tawnier above and has a very reddish-brown
unbarred rump, which is a very good field mark.

DISTRIBUTION

_Range._--Alaska and islands in the Pacific Ocean.

_Breeding range._--Unknown, but considered probable in northern or northwestern Alaska.

The bristle-thighed curlew does not seem to be abundant and consequently has been under observation at comparatively few points. Specimens have been observed or taken in summer in Alaska at Kotzebue Sound, Hooper Bay, Kobuk River, Lopp Lagoon, and Mint River. One also was taken on St. George Island, of the Pribilof group, on May 26, 1917.

_Winter range._--During the winter they are found north to the Hawaiian Islands (Lisiansky, Laysan, French Frigate Shoal, Bird Island, and Hawaii); east to Hawaii, Palmyra Island, Fanning Island, Christmas Island, Marquesas Islands, Society Islands (Tahiti), and the Paumotu Archipelago (Vincennes Island); south to the Low or Paumotu Archipelago (Vincennes Island), Cook Islands (Palmerston Island), and probably New Caledonia; west to probably New Caledonia, Phoenix Islands (Canton and Phoenix Island), Gilbert Islands, the Marshall Islands (Jaluit Island), and the Hawaiian Islands (Lisiansky Island).

_Migration._--Early dates of arrival for bristle-thighed curlews in Alaska are: Fort Kenai, May 18, 1869; Nome River, May 23, 1905; and Cape Mountain, May 28, 1922.

They have been detected in the Kotzebue Sound region as late as August 26, 1885.

Family CHARADRIIDAE, Plovers

VANELLUS VANELLUS (Linnaeus)

LAPWING

_Contributed by Francis Charles Robert Jourdain_

HABITS

The status of this bird in North America is a remarkable one. Up to 1927, with the exception of Greenland, where according to Lehn Schiöler, it is an occasional visitor, it had only been recorded on about seven occasions from the American Continent. Excluding Alaska, all the other records are from the eastern seaboard, the Bahamas and Barbados. In December, 1927, large flocks, numbering thousands, according to one reporter, were recorded from a number of places along the east coast of Newfoundland, in the middle of the country and also on the west coast. Among the birds obtained was one sent from Bonavista, Newfoundland, by Canon A. G. Bagley on December 31, which still bore the ring with which it had been marked as a nestling in May, 1926, at Ullswater, Cumberland, England, by Dr. H. J. Moon.

_Spring._--In the British Isles the migratory movements are rather complicated and irregular, but many birds which have wintered in the south and near the great estuaries and marshes begin to work their way back to their breeding places inland, and to the north of Scotland which is practically deserted by them during the winter months.

_Courtship._--The lapwing is a highly gregarious species and even in the height of the breeding season, when territorial jealousy on the part of the males is apparent, several pairs are generally to be found nesting within a short distance of one another. The courtship habits have been closely studied by the late S. E. Brock in Scotland, and more recently by William Farren, R. H. Brown, and J. K. Stanford, so that there is plenty of material at hand.

Even in the autumn and early winter months when the weather is open, especially after frosts, a certain amount of sexual activity is evident. Some of the males show indications of territorial defense and fighting takes place intermittently. It is not till the winter is over and the males have returned to their breeding grounds, which is generally from late February to early March, that the nesting territory is definitely parceled out among the males. The areas may vary considerably in shape and size and are not always clearly defined, but each bird shows distinct signs of jealousy at any invasion on the part of a neighbor and aerial combats take place from time to time, though sometimes a male will desert the group of “scrapes” which marks his territorial center and adopt a new series. These “scrapes” form an important part in the ritual of courtship. On the appearance of a female the male utters a grating note while standing upright and moving wings and tail up and down rhythmically. He then drops to the ground and, as Brock describes it, “lying far forward on his breast, shuffles the body, and scrapes energetically with the feet, which may be seen in rapid motion. At short intervals the tail is spasmodically bent downwards, the action corresponding with energetic footwork.” He then rises jerking bits of stubble over his shoulder, and in this way a little group of hollows or “scrapes” is formed, one of which ultimately becomes the nest. Apparently the female makes choice from several sites originally selected by the male.

From time to time the male makes the spring flight which has been well described by Brock.

Rising from the ground the male executes a few labored
flaps, moving the wings with exaggerated slowness, owllike;
thence he quickens his pace and rising suddenly at an
abrupt angle, commences the song, the greater part of
which, however, is emitted as the bird falls again. During
the utterance of the song is a pause occurring after the
penultimate note, the performer throws himself sideways
almost on his back, instantly recovering himself with
a flurry of wings. The bird now scuds rapidly over the
ground at a moderate height, making a pronounced humming
sound with the motion of his sharply driven pinions, and
occasionally tilting himself from side to side, much in the
manner of a snipe when flushed.

The song is well rendered by Brock as _whey-willuchooee-willuch-willuch- cooee_. The first syllable long and hoarse, the second and third _willuch_ uttered rapidly and staccato, then a pause, during which the partial somersault is executed, followed by the loud and musical final note. The Norfolk marshmen’s transliteration is also good, “Three bullocks a week, week after week.”

Sometimes two rival males will rise together in the air almost perpendicularly each trying to rise above the other.

At intervals the upper bird stoops suddenly to the lower,
an attack usually avoided by an agile turn of the wing,
but occasionally a distant and hollow clap is audible,
indicating an exchange of blows apparently with the
wing. On at length parting company both combatants break
into full song flight, repeating it twice or thrice ere
resettling in their respective stations.

These encounters seem as a rule not to be of a very serious character and the occasional fights between rivals carried on near the ground, in which one bird swoops repeatedly from one side or the other at its opponent, which in turn avoids the attack by little upward springs or swerving aside, seem to be of a more serious character. When a hen bird approaches, the male bird runs toward her and describes a half circle round her with stiff and constrained air. Then he makes for the nearest “scrape” and at once drops into it, working with furious energy and occasionally dropping bits of straw over his shoulder. At first the hen makes no response, but about a fortnight after the beginning of the courtship she approaches the spot where he is at work by indirect stages. The male then rises and steps forward, with his back to the hen, slowly lowering his bill to the ground and raising his tail perpendicularly, thus displaying his richly colored undertail coverts. The female now settles into the “scrape” and imitates the actions of the cock, but with less energy, the male meanwhile retaining his strange uptilted attitude and collecting nesting material which is jerked over his shoulder toward the “scrape.” When at length the hen leaves the “scrape” the male reenters and sometimes the hen also repeats the process. Coition takes place a few days before the eggs are laid and immediately afterwards the hen works in the “scrape” with far more energy than before, the male often taking his place in another scrape. Both birds go through the ceremony of throwing bits of nest material over the shoulder. No serious attempt is made on the part of other males to interfere with a paired hen, and she on her part seems to avoid any strange cock bird.

_Nesting._--Although it is usual for several pairs to breed in company the actual nests are usually some distance apart, and nearly always on slightly raised ground. They may be found on plowed land or on pasture and occasionally moorland, and vary somewhat in size, some being merely muddy hollows with a few bits of straw and bent, while others, especially on grass lands, are fairly substantial edifices of dead vegetable matter collected round the nesting “scrape” originally made by the male.

_Eggs._--Normally four, but on rare occasions five, have been recorded, and when a bird has been robbed twice, sets of three and even two or one egg may be found late in the season. When the birds have been much persecuted as many as 20 have been laid in one season by a single female. They are pyriform in shape and lie in the nest with the points touching one another. As a rule there is not much variation, the usual ground color being stone color or brownish olive with black spots and blotches chiefly towards the large end. Some eggs have the ground almost hidden by dense black markings, and there are types in which the spots are mainly replaced by short black lines. More remarkable varieties are those in which the ground color in bluish white or some shade of greenish olive, with scanty markings of black, and the rare erythristic type in which the ground color is pale brick red or deep red brown with rich red brown markings. This wonderful variation has been recorded from Friesland as well as many parts of the British Isles. The measurements of 100 eggs measured by the writer average 47 by 33.7 millimeters; the eggs showing the four extremes measure =58= by 32.5, 47.4 by =37.2=, =42.3= by 33 and 44.7 by =31.2= millimeters.

_Young._--Incubation is performed by both sexes, but much the greater part by the hen, the male being on guard to give the alarm. Incubation begins with the third or fourth egg and the period is as a rule 24 or 25 days, but in some cases is said to extend to 27 or even 28 days. The adults are very bold and demonstrative when the eggs are chipping and will even strike sheep or dogs. The young remain in the nest until the down has been thoroughly dried and at first do not travel far afield, crouching when the parents give the alarm. They can swim readily and are led by the old birds from dry uplands toward water meadows. Directly the young are able to fly they assemble into flocks. Only one brood is reared during the season.

_Plumages._--The plumages and molts are fully described in A Practical Handbook of British Birds, edited by H. F. Witherby (1920).

Ridgway (1919) says that the sexes are alike, and that he has been unable to verify the supposed differences in the wing formula of male and female. It is, however, easy to distinguish the sexes in life by the shape of the wing of the male, which is, as described by Frohawk and others, much more rounded in shape than that of the female.

_Food._--This consists largely of earthworms, mollusca (including the large slugs _Arion_ and _Agriolimax_ as well as the smaller snails, _Helix_ sp.; also during the winter months marine shell fish, _Tellina_, _Bythinia_, _Physa_, etc.) and insects. This latter family includes Coleoptera (_Otiorhynchus_, Carabidae, _Ocypusolens_, _Aphodius_, _Agriotes_, various species of _Geodephaga_, etc.), Diptera, including larvae of Tipulidae, Lepidoptera (many larvae of moths such as _Noctua segetum_, _N. exclamationes_, etc.), and Orthoptera. Vegetable matter is also eaten, but not largely. Seeds of _Ranunculus repens_, _Polygonum aviculare_, and _Spergula_ have been recognized, also fragments of seaweed (Algae) in winter. Spiders and marine crustacea are also recorded.

_Behavior._--The lapwing is preeminently a gregarious bird. All through the winter months it is to be met with in flocks, sometimes of great size, and even in the breeding season it is rare to find a single pair nesting out of sight and earshot of its neighbors. The curious “wobbling” flight enables the species to be recognized at great distances. Unlike some other gregarious species, such as the starling, the lapwing is not expert in the art of simultaneous maneuvers and it is a common sight to see a big flock rise together on the wing and break up at once into two bodies moving in different directions. Then gradually birds from the smaller body will gravitate toward the larger flock and after a time the two will reunite, but there is a lack of leadership and confidence in their movements which at once distinguishes them from the smartly wheeling flocks of dunlins, knots, or other gregarious waders. Sometimes a party of golden plover will associate on the wing with a flock of lapwing, but here, again, the difference is very striking.

_Enemies._--Probably the rook destroys more eggs and small young than any other foe except man, but the jackdaw, hooded crow, and carrion crow are all apt to devour the eggs. I have seen a sparrow hawk drop from a tree onto a bird rising from its nest and bind onto it for a time, but the lapwing broke free after a struggle. It is not uncommon to find remains of birds on the feeding tables of the sparrow hawk near a breeding ground. The peregrine also sometimes takes lapwing, but its erratic tumbling flight renders it a difficult prey.

_Fall._--Ringing has proved that some of the British-reared birds find their way to Iceland, France, and Portugal. In mild winters there are always a considerable number of flocks in our southern counties, but hard frosts or deep snow will cause them to move to the south coast or to emigrate.

Although a most useful bird from the agriculturist’s point of view, the lapwing is shot freely during the autumn and winter, chiefly by shore shooters, while the demand for its eggs as delicacies has also been detrimental to its status. In Holland the earliest clutches are all taken for the market and this has had no injurious effect, as the birds lay again and are then protected strictly.

DISTRIBUTION

_Breeding range._--Europe north to the Arctic Circle, the British Isles, but only exceptionally in the Faroes, and not in Iceland. In Finland to latitude 68° on the Muonio River and in Russia north to Archangel. Southward it breeds in Andalusia and in the Balkan Peninsula to Macedonia, but not in Greece or the Mediterranean Islands. Breeding in Morocco requires confirmation. It also breeds across Asia east to the Pacific, south to Transcaspia and Yarkand.

_Winter range._--Many birds winter in the British Isles, but on the Continent they move to southern Europe and northern Africa, visiting the Atlantic isles occasionally (Canaries, Madeira, etc.). In Asia, Asia Minor, Palestine, Iraq, Persia, and north India, China, North Burma, and Japan.

_Spring migration._--The northward movement of continental birds depends much on the weather. In mild winters they have appeared in Denmark in January and February, but the average date is about March 6. In Sweden the arrival is also irregular, from mid February to mid March, but in south Finland not till late in March. In central Europe the birds arrive as a rule on the breeding grounds early in March, and the Mediterranean passage is generally over by the beginning of that month.

_Fall migration._--Migrants from the north arrive at Gibraltar about mid October, while in Malta the passage takes place in November, and in Greece at the end of October. In Iraq they arrive from October 22 onward, but chiefly in early November.

_Casual records._--Greenland, occasional visitor (Julianehaab 1847; Fiskenaes 7, I, 1820, etc.) Iceland; numerous records between September and March; Labrador (Cartwright, January, 1917); Newfoundland, White Hills, November 23, 1905 and recently (December, 1927); Nova Scotia (Ketch Harbor, March 17, 1897); Long Island, New York (Merrick, 2 specimens, December 26, 1883 and Meccox Bay, Waterville, autumn 1905); Bahamas (Hog Island, November, 1900); Barbados (December 24, 1886); West Alaska (small islets in Norton Sound); Madeira (Machico, December 6, 1891, December 2, 1889, December 4, 1893, January 14, 1895, March 10, 1895, December 15, 1896, and November 28, 1897); Jan Mayen (30 on April 8, 1883).

[AUTHOR’S NOTE.--The most remarkable occurrence of this species took place during the fall and winter of 1927–28. A specimen was taken on Baffin Island in October; and they appeared in large numbers in Newfoundland (Bonavista) in December, where one man was reported to have killed 60 individuals, one of which carried a band of British Bird Magazine that had been attached in Cumberland, England, in May, 1926. Capt. Donald MacMillan reported them at Anatalok Bay, Labrador, on December 22, and a specimen was obtained January 6, 1928, at North Head, Grand Manan, New Brunswick.]