Chapter C: L. Whittle (1928) has suggested the following theory, as to the (1)

possible cause of this unusual flight:

As to the cause of the movement of lapwings to Newfoundland
and the route taken, it is perhaps helpful to study
the Pilot Charts of the North Atlantic above referred
to. During the month of December, the 16th and 17th, a
well-developed cyclone of exceptional intensity had its
center well to the east of Spain, with a low pressure of
28.30 inches, and with accompanying strong southeasterly
winds from western Europe. These winds might easily have
been instrumental in driving lapwings to Iceland, five
to seven hundred miles distant, and to Greenland. Later,
polar winds and a search for food may have played important
parts in forcing a movement southwesterly to northern
Labrador, and then southeasterly, following the coast to
Newfoundland. Here, near the shore, snowless tundras, which
probably would furnish a food supply, may have existed,
even in December, with the result that the recently
scattered birds became gradually concentrated.[2]

[2] See also A Transatlantic Passage of Lapwings, by
H. F. Witherby, in British Birds, vol. 22, pp. 6–13.

_Egg dates._--March 2 to 19 (9 dates); March 26 to 31 (18 dates); April 1 to 14 (60 dates); April 15 to 30 (29 dates, probably including many second layings); late date June 22. All the above from England.

EUDROMIAS MORINELLUS (Linnaeus)

DOTTEREL

_Contributed by Francis Charles Robert Jourdain_

HABITS

The claim of this species to a place in the American list rests on a single occurrence at King Island, Alaska, on July 23, 1897.

_Spring._--The regularity of the appearance of the dotterel on migration at almost the same spots year after year and approximately about the same time in spring, has proved a great disadvantage to the species, as being very tame and unsuspicious and much sought after, not only as a delicacy for the table, but also on account of the demand for its feathers on the part of fly-fishers, it was mercilessly shot on the way to its breeding grounds in the north of England and Scotland. The usual date of arrival was about the last week of April and the beginning of May and little “trips” might be looked for annually at certain favored spots along the route northward. Exceptionally early arrivals have been recorded on March 25, April 4 and April 8, but these are quite unusual.

_Courtship._--Owing no doubt partly to the inaccessible nature of its haunts and also partly to its scarcity, there is nothing on record in the literature as to the courtship of this bird. All writers are agreed that the migrants which pass through England are in small flocks or “trips” and are still unpaired. In 1922 I was on the high field of West Finmark and there was still a great deal of snow about, but here and there islands of gray rock stood out from the snow field. Here we met with dotterel in fair numbers, evidently pairing and house hunting. They shared the ground with a few snow buntings and ptarmigan, and it was obvious that already certain spots had been selected for breeding. Sometimes three birds would be seen wheeling round a bare patch of moor and rock and freely uttering their courting notes, which reminded us of those of the ring plover. We saw nothing to suggest the existence of a nuptial song flight, but further observations at this period would be of great interest.

_Nesting._--In Scotland and the English lake district the breeding haunts of this species must be looked for at about 2,500 to 3,500 feet or even higher, not on the mountain tops, but on plateaus or slopes below the highest points. Here, where the only vegetation consists of a scanty growth of heather mixed with wiry grass, mosses and lichens, and occasional fragments of gray rock crop out here and there, the dotterel is at home. Few living things haunt their solitudes; a stray raven or eagle may pass over occasionally, but as a rule there is hardly a sign of life anywhere. There is some evidence that one or two “scrapes” are made by one pair of birds, but we have no information as to which of the two is responsible for making the hollow. The eggs are laid in a natural depression adapted by the bird, roughly about three and one-half inches across and fairly deep, as a rule, but generally filled with fragments of lichen or the red leaves of the cranberry, so that the eggs are not difficult to see though their coloring harmonizes with the surroundings.

_Eggs._--Normally three, but frequently two only, while instances of four are comparatively rare. They are more elliptical and less pyriform than most waders’ eggs and are not unlike some types of eggs of the Arctic tern, though almost always more boldly blotched. In color they range from yellowish olive to clay color, occasionally with a greenish tinge and are boldly spotted and blotched with deep blackish brown and a few ashy shell marks. The average of 100 British eggs, measured by the writer is 41.1 by 28.8 millimeters; the eggs showing the four extremes measure =46.7= by 31.3, 44.5 by =31.5=, =37.5= by 29 and 41.6 by =27.4= millimeters.

The sexes are not easy to distinguish in the field, but nearly all the positive evidence from birds shot off the eggs goes to prove that the male is generally to be found incubating. H. H. Slater shot two males from eggs. H. J. Pearson and Gloger had similar experiences, and Bengt Berg, who has watched this bird at close quarters, says that only the male incubates. Many accounts have been published of the behavior of the sitting bird. When flushed from the eggs it returns by a circuitous route, cowering like a mouse, as one observer describes it, sometimes stopping to look round and sometimes doubling back on his tracks like a hunted hare, but all the time, in spite of the numerous turns and twists, gradually approaching the eggs to which at last a short direct run is made. Viewed from behind the bird is exceedingly difficult to follow with the eye in its environment, so that close watching is necessary to mark it down. When the nest has once been discovered, or if the bird is brooding young, it will show extraordinary boldness and will even allow itself to be lifted off the nest by the hand, settling down again as soon as it is removed. Bengt Berg actually succeeded in photographing a bird in the act of accepting a worm from the hand. The only information as to the length of the incubation period is Heyshams oft-quoted assertion that it rarely lasts more than 18 or 20 days. Only a single brood is reared in a season, but the hen will lay a second time about a fortnight after the first clutch has been destroyed.

_Young._--In one case when Seton Gordon came across a nest with half-grown chicks, both parents showed signs of great excitement and almost complete disregard of his presence, running backward and forward and frequently uttering their soft whistle which sounded something like _twee, twee, tuur_, the first two notes pitched in a high key and the last a purring sound difficult to express in writing. On other occasions only a single old bird accompanied the young and considerable differences were apparent in their behavior, some showing signs of great anxiety when the young were approached while others were apparently almost indifferent and remained some distance off.

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

_Food._--On its breeding grounds it feeds on insects (Diptera, Coleoptera, and their larvae). Collett records _Bembidium_ and _Elater_ larvae; Petenyi records _Dorcadion_, _Silpha_, and _Pachygastra_. Earthworms are also taken, according to Saxby, Collett, and Berg. H. J. Pearson also records vegetable matter, apparently seeds of _Empetrum nigrum_ or crowberry. H. B. Tristram writes that in its winter quarters in Palestine it subsists largely on small snails (_Helix_).

_Behavior._--The dotterel is a quiet, unobtrusive bird, not associating much with other waders and generally met with in small parties out of the breeding season. Its general brown coloring is not striking and no doubt it is frequently overlooked. Its flight is strong, the clean-cut wings, as Gordon says, “moving with swift and powerful strokes only a few feet above the surface of the ground.”

_Enemies._--Naumann (1887) states that the chief enemies of the dotterel are the falcons (peregrine, hobby, and merlin) and the short-winged hawks (goshawk and sparrow hawk).

_Fall._--At Heligoland Gätke (1895) observed large numbers of young birds of the year on passage on one or two occasions; on August 22, 1882, great numbers passed, although wind and rain prevailed, and on September 4 in fine weather one flight alone took five minutes to pass, an unprecedented occurrence.

_Winter._--Lord Lilford found it abundant in its winter quarters on the plains of Tunisia consorting with sand grouse, lapwings, golden plover, little bustards, and cranes. He failed to get within shot on foot, but killed many from horse, donkey, or camel, though the birds would run about fearlessly within a few feet of the Arab plowmen.

DISTRIBUTION

_Breeding range._--In the British Isles confined to a few localities in the North Pennine and Cumbrian Hills, and in Scotland chiefly to levels of 3,000 to 4,000 feet in the Grampians and Cairngorms, and very locally north and west. On the Continent, in northern Scandinavia, north Finland and Russia, Nova Zembla, Waigatz, and Kolguev. It is found locally in the Riesengebirge, Styria, Transylvania, etc. It is also said to breed in southeast Russia. In Asia it is found across Siberia and on the New Siberian Isles in the tundra and south to the mountain ranges of central Asia.

_Winter range._--Extends to North Africa, Palestine and Syria, Iraq, Arabia, and Persia.

_Spring migration._--In the western Mediterranean it is scarce on spring passage, but Brehm obtained one at Cartagena, Spain, on March 31. It is also of rare occurrence at Malta in spring and seldom recorded from Greece. At Muonioniska flocks arrive from the south about May 29 and remain for a week or two before proceeding to their breeding grounds on the tundra.

_Fall migration._--The great bulk of migrants seem to pass through eastern Europe southward through Palestine, but small numbers pass the Straits of Gibraltar in August and September, and it is not uncommon on Malta in October and November (early date, August 23; late date, December 11). Whitaker notes its arrival in Tunisia in September and October.

_Casual records._--Saxby records one on the Shetlands in mid-June, 1869. It is a rare visitor to the Canaries and has not been recorded there for many years. The supposed record from Spitzbergen is probably a mistaken identification, but it has occurred in Japan and on King Island, Alaska (July 23, 1897).

_Egg dates._--British Isles, 8 dates between May 30, and June 15; 5 dates between June 21 and July 14; probably including some second layings. In Scandinavia, 14 dates between June 3 and 15; 33 dates between June 16 and 30; 2 dates between July 1 and 6.

SQUATAROLA SQUATAROLA (Linnaeus)

BLACK-BELLIED PLOVER

HABITS

I use the above name rather than the latest check list name, _cynosurae_ because I can not see any valid reason for recognizing a North American race of this cosmopolitan species. A slight average difference in size is of little significance in a species which shows such a wide range of individual variation. Recent investigation has, I believe, convinced even Mr. Bangs that this race, which he described, has no standing. The bird which breeds in northeastern Siberia has been separated under the name _hypomelaena_; this may be a good race, though material to establish it is rather scanty in this country. Probably it is the Siberian race which breeds on the Bering Sea coast of Alaska. For life-history purposes the species, as a whole, will be considered.

The black-bellied plover is an aristocrat among shore birds, the largest and strongest of the plovers, a leader of its tribe. It is a distinguished-looking bird in its handsome spring livery of black and white; and its attitude, as it stands like a sentinel on the crest of a sand dune or on some distant mud flat, is always dignified and imposing. Its wild, plaintive, and musical whistle arouses the enthusiasm of the sportsman and serves both as a warning and as an invitation to the lesser fowl that look to it for leadership.

Its breeding range is circumpolar, but decidedly spotty; there are very few places where it breeds at all commonly. On migrations it is widely distributed over nearly all of the Northern Hemisphere. It was never as abundant in this country as the golden plover and apparently never traveled in such immense flocks; hence it was never slaughtered in such enormous numbers. Moreover, it is much wilder, more wary, and better able to take care of itself; consequently it has held its own much better and has proven more of a success in the struggle for existence.

Nevertheless, it has been considerably reduced in numbers during the past 75 years. I am inclined to think that the reduction in numbers is more apparent than real and that the birds have learned to avoid certain localities, where they were once so abundant and where they have been so persistently pursued by gunners. George H. Mackay (1892) has shown a decided decrease on Nantucket, which he attributes to such a cause. From my own 30 years’ experience on Cape Cod I know that this has taken place there; I have noticed a gradual decrease in the numbers of black-bellied plover that come to Chatham and Monomoy during the fall flight, until now I often see no more than half a dozen in a day, where formerly we used to see them in hundreds. On the spring flight, however, they are often very abundant there, and apparently have increased since spring shooting was stopped; formerly they were much more abundant in the fall than in the spring, but the reverse is now the case. This is a striking example of the bird’s sagacity. Francis N. Balch told me that he saw at least 4,000 black-bellied plover on Monomoy on one day during the height of the spring flight in 1927. This compares favorably with Nuttall’s much quoted statement that flocks of more than 1,000 gathered near Boston about 100 years ago. Some of the figures given below will show that there are still plenty of black-bellied plover left in places where they are not too much molested.

_Spring._--From the northern part of its winter range in the southern States the black-bellied plover starts on its northward migration in April and there is a general northward movement, entirely across the continent, all through May; the last of the migrants do not leave the northern States until the first week in June. Arthur T. Wayne (1910) says that, in South Carolina, “when the wind is from the south and the tide is low in the afternoon, these birds migrate in small flocks in a northwesterly direction,” probably taking an overland route to their breeding grounds. But there is also a heavy northward migration along the Atlantic coast, at least as far as New Jersey, whence I believe the main flight swings inland, though there is a well-marked spring migration in Massachusetts, mainly during the last half of May, which seems to have increased in recent years. During the latter part of May, 1927, I was privileged to see, through the kindness of Dr. Harry C. Oberholser, the greatest flight of black-bellied plover, dowitchers, and turnstones that I have ever seen. On the coast of New Jersey, in the vicinity of Tuckerton Bay and Little Egg Harbor, we made actual counts, or careful estimates, of all birds seen and the totals were far ahead of any he had recorded there in recent years. Seven day’s records show a total of over 20,000 black-bellied plover; on our two best days, May 27 and 28, we recorded 6,200 and 5,600; and on our poorest day, May 25, we counted only 238, showing that they came in waves. The black-bellied plover were often associated in the large flocks with ruddy turnstones; we saw one immense flock which we estimated to contain 3,500 birds of these two species. This great flock was a thrilling sight, as it swept in over the marsh like a great cloud and alighted; twice, while we were watching, it arose like a swarm of insects, circled about, separated into two divisions, joined again, and alighted. We did not see it depart.

This seems to be the best place on the New Jersey coast to observe shore birds in large numbers, where they alight to rest and feed on the large, flat, marshy islands. These are mud islands raised but a few feet above high water and some of them are partially flooded during spring tides; they are mainly covered with salt-marsh grasses, intersected by tidal creeks and dotted with small pond holes or bare muddy splashes. The plover alighted on the bare spaces or in the short grass, where the large flocks seen in the distance seemed to whiten the ground. These large flocks, with sentinels always alert, were utterly unapproachable; and even the small flocks and single birds were as shy as ever. At low tide they resorted to the extensive mud flats to feed, though they doubtless fed on the meadows also.

On Cape Cod they frequent the same localities as in the fall; my earliest date is April 19 and my latest date for adult birds is June 29. The spring flights here and in New Jersey are made up mainly of adult birds, mostly in full plumage, but many are mottled and there are always some “pale bellies,” or young birds.

The black-bellied plover is an abundant spring migrant up the Mississippi Valley and through central Canada. We saw it in Saskatchewan during the last week in May and first week in June. C. G. Harold tells me that it is abundant around the prairie lakes and sloughs in Manitoba. Prof. William Rowan (1926) calls it abundant in Manitoba; his notes mention a flock estimated at about 3,000 seen on May 23, 1925, at Beaverhill Lake. He says:

At our lake it is one of the later arrivals in the
spring, seldom appearing before the middle of May. It
stays generally in some numbers till the end of the month
and may linger till the second week of June. Flocks are
usually small, anything up to 30, except when the birds
are ready to start on the next lap north, when they may
aggregate many hundreds if not thousands. On May 23, 1925,
we estimated the ground covered by a single flock of grey
plovers, knots, and a sprinkling of goldens at about one
and a half acres. They were not scattered, but neither were
they closely packed. The grays made up about 75 per cent of
the whole. The sitting flock looked like a large patch of
snow.

S. F. Rathbun has sent me the following notes from Washington which illustrates the abundance of this species on the Pacific coast:

May 12, 1927. This morning was a dark one with a steady
drizzling rain and light wind following the storm of the
preceding two days. On reaching a very wide expanse of
grassy salt meadows bordering the bay we found them dotted
nearly everywhere with many of the smaller sandpipers and
black-bellied plover, the birds being in small and large
flocks and mostly grouped around the many shallow pools
with which the meadows were flecked. It was one of the
finest sights we have ever seen where shore-birds were
concerned. The beautiful black-bellied plover in full
nuptial dress were scattered over a wide area, rarely as
single birds, but ordinarily a number in company and not
infrequently in flocks of considerable size. One such flock
consisted of 50 individuals, shortly after being joined
by another of some 30 birds, the combination of so many
large black-breasted birds making a striking sight. When
first alighting the birds would stand motionless, following
which they would then move slowly about, although at times
individuals might take wing, make several turns in the air
and then alight among the others on the ground. When in
its full plumage this plover is very noticeable even a long
distance off, and when on the ground is always wary and
alert. On alighting if it does not stand motionless, the
bird will immediately move to the nearest height of land,
if such there happens to be, and from such point of vantage
will then scan the landscape, and should there happen to
be a number in company you will always find two or three
maintaining a lookout while the remainder move about rather
unconcernedly.

At times associated with the many sandpipers would be a
number of knots, but as a rule this latter species was
found in flocks by itself with this exception, that always
with a flock of knots would be one or more black-bellied
plover, such acting as sentinels for the former. And
this being the case, the knots would then unconcernedly
feed, as they seemed to rely implicitly on the plovers’
watchfulness, and we never noted this confidence misplaced.
And this fact must in instances prove the salvation of
those shore birds more or less unsuspicious and having
this plover in company, for they seem to be governed by
its actions. Sometimes, with a warning note, the sentinel
would suddenly take wing and instantly was followed by the
entire flock of other birds en masse, and all would then
fly about perhaps for a time before once more alighting on
some spot selected by the plover acting as the sentinel. At
one time during our stay there were between three and four
thousand of these plover on the meadows, and we were told
that on the preceding day during the height of the storm
this number must have been exceeded.

_Courtship._--I have never seen any signs of courtships during the spring migration, though I have often looked for it; nor have I ever seen any mention of it by others. Hence I infer that it is accomplished after the birds arrive on their breeding grounds. Herbert W. Brandt says in his Alaska notes:

During courtship the male spends considerable time on the
wing, speeding about like a racer; and amid the constant
din of wild-fowl notes his cheery whistle _to lee, to
lee_, is one of the pleasant sounds that greet the ear.
But once the female is incubating her lord becomes as
serious and silent as his sober black waistcoat, so that
by early June it seemed as if every plover had left the
country. He carries on his courtship regardless of weather,
now mounting high, the next moment skimming low, with
beautiful and bewildering grace, his wild whistling call
meanwhile rising above the din of the storm. The advance
guard of migrants of this plover arrived from the south in
a “nor’wester” on May 7, passing like phantom voyagers, and
the next instant were lost in mid-air in the swirling snow.

_Nesting._--Mr. Brandt has sent me the following notes on the nesting habits of the black-bellied plover in the Hooper Bay region of Alaska:

We found this jauntily attired plover the most common
nesting species of the larger shore birds, frequenting the
upland rolling tundra, where it preferred the ridges. It
often chose for a nesting site the edge of one of the more
prominent bluffs which formed the margin of the valleys,
from which location the sitting bird could view the entire
surrounding country. On these barren areas, where even the
close-cropped moss struggles for existence, the vegetation
is mottled with black and white, and as a consequence
the eggs, in spite of their exposed situation, are very
difficult to find. One must almost touch them to be sure
that they are there, so completely do they harmonize
with their background. This protective coloration is so
perfect that in one case a bird deserted its nest and the
eggs remained unprotected for three days, during which
time jaegers, which were continuously hunting overhead
and about, were, even with their sharp eyes, not able to
distinguish them.

The nest is prepared by the female by scratching out in the
moss a circular depression some 6 inches in diameter and
about 1½ inches deep and lining it with a few white sprigs
of reindeer moss. Here she lays her four large beautiful
eggs, each set showing marked variation in size, shape, and
markings. These eggs are distinctive, having a considerably
lighter background than those of the golden plover, while
the black markings are not so numerous and are more evenly
distributed.

They do not nest in proximity to one another, as of the 40
or more nests observed no two were closer together than
a quarter of a mile. The female is anything but a close
sitter and departs from the eminence on which the nest is
situated long before the intruder arrives. If the eggs
are fresh, often neither bird exhibits any interest while
a person is at the nest and they do not even make their
appearance as long as he remains in their vicinity. As the
hatching point approaches, however, the birds become more
solicitous, protesting vigorously; the male develops into
a militant sentry and rushes out to meet the intruder,
repeatedly whistling _lee-ah_ in a scolding tone, but
staying well out of gun range. He is very combative and
drives away any jaeger or large gull that infringes on
his area. The female often leaves her eggs to join in the
attack, and even the swift-flying long-tailed jaeger can
not avoid their onslaughts but beats a hasty retreat. I
have seen a male plover strike a jaeger so hard that it
reeled unsteadily in mid-air, but the coward made no effort
to retaliate.

Roderick MacFarlane’s notes contain the records of seven nests found in the vicinity of Franklin Bay, Mackenzie. The nests were all found between July 4 and 10, in 1864 and 1865. The first was on an island in the bay and was “composed of a few withered grasses, placed in a hole or depression on the side, or face, of a very gentle eminence.” At least two other nests were on islands. The female was snared on one nest, but was devoured by a snowy owl, which also ate the four eggs.

The nesting habits of the grey plover, as this species is called by Europeans, are apparently similar to those of our bird. Henry J. Pearson (1896), who found seven nests on Kolguev, describes them thus:

The positions of the nests were interesting; only two were
on the lower ground near the Gobista; one was a mile both
from the sea and the river; all the others--also several
old nests--were on the tundra not far from the edge of
the bluffs which form the margin of the river basin. Grey
plovers seem to prefer this position, which gives them
good posts of observation and allows them to take their
young easily into the marshes below to feed. We found a
ready way of locating the nest of this bird was to watch a
pair of Richardson’s skua hunting over the tundra, for as
soon as they approached the nest of the plovers, both the
latter rose into the air and drove the skuas away. We never
observed these birds breeding near each other, each pair
appearing to take possession of about a mile of country.
All the nests were slight depressions in the peat, lined
with a little lichen.

If the black-bellied plover breeds in Greenland it must be very rare there, for Dr. W. Elmer Ekblaw tells me that he saw it only twice during the four years that he spent there. A flock that he saw on Sutherland Island, south of Etah, on August 17, 1914, was made up of old and young birds and the latter may have been reared there.

_Eggs._--Mr. Brandt has described the eggs so much better than I can that I prefer to quote from his notes, as follows:

Of the more than 40 nests that we examined of the
black-bellied plover each held four eggs when its
complement was completed. Owing to the proportionate
thickness compared with its length the shape of the egg
is ovate pyriform inclining to subpyriform. The shell is
strong, finely granular, and on every egg I have seen the
lustre is uniformly dull. The ground color and markings
vary so much that hardly any two sets are the same. This
ground color appears to follow three different shades,
which are pinkish, greenish, or brownish. These types are
often quite pronounced when the eggs are fresh, but the
delicate tints fade with age. The pink type ranges from
“pale ochraceous salmon” to “light buff”; the green type
is “pale glass green”; while the brown variety is often as
dark as “cinnamon drab.” The eggs are never densely spotted
and are always most heavily marked about the large end,
but the very tip of this end is usually bare of spots, so
that, if viewed upon the long axis, a wreath of spots is
observed. These spots are usually medium in size and are
distinct, although in a few unusual examples the spots
become confluent at the large end. The primary markings are
irregularly circular and never elongated, while upon the
unusual egg these jet ornaments are of thumb-nail size.
In rare instances the markings assume the form of short
penlike scratches which mark the surface at various angles
in the same manner as is occasionally found on the eggs of
other members of the Charadriidae. The spots are uniformly
“blackish brown” to black, but, where the pigment is spread
more thinly, “deep brownish drab” or “dusky drab” tones may
be noted, while here and there “hazel” to “liver brown”
may be observed where the pigment is extremely thin. The
underlying spots are never numerous but always present
and are more prominent on some specimens than on others.
They vary in tone from “pale mouse gray” to “deep violet
gray,” dependent upon the ground color, while one specimen
with small primary spots is conspicuously beautified with
“chicory blue.” A series of these noble eggs is a study
in black and whitish, and while the individual egg is
conspicuous, yet, when resting on their mottled birthplace,
it is evident that nature has most happily endowed them
with protective coloration.

The measurements of 174 eggs average 52.2 by 36.5 millimeters; the eggs showing the four extremes measure =58= by 38, 55.5 by =38.2=, =47.5= by 34.7 and 51.9 by =34= millimeters. The measurements of eggs from different localities do not throw much light on the relationship of the proposed subspecies; 120 eggs from Hooper Bay average 52.4 by 36.7, 14 eggs from Franklin Bay average 52 by 36, and 40 eggs from European localities average 51.6 by 35.9 millimeters.

_Young._--Several observers have proven that both sexes share in the incubation. Mr. Brandt says in his notes:

The first downy young appeared on June 21 after an
incubation lasting 23 days, and they were just as
inconspicuous and distinctive as were the eggs whence
they emerged. At that time both parents were fearless
in their defense, employing all the wing-dragging and
distress maneuvers known to ground-nesting birds. This was
exhibited even by the male, which is rather unusual. The
downy young are variegated, sulphur-yellow and black above,
and harmonize well with the abundant yellowish moss of the
tundra. They conceal themselves by lying with head down and
with their legs drawn under their bodies and are thus very
difficult to detect.

_Plumages._--In natal down the young black-bellied plover resembles the young golden plover, except that the band around the neck and the under parts are purer white. The forehead, crown, and sides of the head are variegated with black, white, and bright yellows, varying from “lemon chrome” to “baryta yellow”; the back, rump, wings, and thighs are mottled with black and the above shades of yellow; the nape, a broad band around the neck and the entire under parts are pure white; the cheeks below the eyes are white bordered below by a black stripe extending from the bill to the auriculars.

In fresh juvenal plumage, as seen on the breeding grounds, the forehead and lores are mainly white; the crown and all the upper parts of the body are sepia, the feathers broadly tipped or notched with yellow, varying from “light cadmium yellow” to “light orange yellow,” the spots being largest and brightest on the rump; the chin is white, but the rest of the under parts are buffy gray and pale buff, the feathers of the throat, breast, and flanks with median dusky streaks and faint dusky tips; the greater wing coverts are more narrowly edged, but more conspicuously notched than in the adult. Young birds are in juvenal plumage during migration, but the yellows have mostly faded to creamy white or white, though the rump spots are often quite yellow. A partial postjuvenal molt takes place late in the fall and in winter, involving much of the body plumage, but generally not the rump and back. Generally the molt is finished by December, but often not until January; by this time the light edgings and notches have worn away, giving the bird a very dark appearance. The first winter plumage is much like the adult winter, but it can be distinguished by the creamy or golden tips and notches of the juvenal wing coverts, by the faded yellow spots on the rump and by some old, worn scapulars and tertials.

Young birds have an incomplete and very variable first prenuptial molt, at which the sexes begin to differentiate. Young males acquire more of the adult nuptial plumage than young females; sometimes the breasts become almost wholly clear black; but in the upper parts there is generally only a sprinkling of new, adult, broadly white-tipped feathers, most of the first winter plumage being retained, with some old, worn scapulars, tertials, and tails. Young females show much less black on the breast and much more winter plumage on the back. Young birds apparently renew the primaries in February and March and the first postnuptial molt, the following summer and fall, produces the adult winter plumage.

Adults have a partial prenuptial molt between February and May, involving the body plumage, usually the tail, some of the wing coverts and tertials, but not all the scapulars, back and rump feathers. The complete postnuptial molt, begins with the acquisition of white feathers in the under body plumage in August and the body molt lasts through September, while the birds are migrating. The wings are molted later, from September to December. In winter plumage the black breast is entirely replaced by dull white, more or less marked or shaded with pale, ashy brown; and the upper parts are dull, ashy brown, the feathers tipped with white and subterminally shaded with blackish brown. No trace of the nuptial body plumage is left and adults and young look very much alike.

_Food._--The main feeding grounds of the black-bellied plover along the coasts are on the broad, tidal, sand flats, and mud flats; there are many such flats about Chatham and other places on Cape Cod, where the receding tide leaves many square miles of flat mud or sand, dotted with little islands of tall marsh grass. These are favorite resorts for plover, where they may be seen away off on the edge of the water, perhaps a mile from the shore, feeding on marine worms, small mollusks, crustaceans, and marine insects. As the advancing tide drives them in onto the marshes or sand dunes, they find other food; Mr. Mackay (1892) says that “they feed also on the larvae of one of the cutworms (Noctuidae) which they obtain on the marshes. They also eat the large whitish maritime grasshopper (_Oedipoda maritima_).”

In the interior they feed, around the shores of the larger lakes and on open flats, on various forms of aquatic life. They also resort to some extent to meadows and upland pastures, where the grass is short, and to plowed fields; here they do some good by devouring grasshoppers, locusts, cutworms, grubs, beetles, and earthworms. They also eat some seeds and berries. Mr. Forbush (1912) says that Prof. Samuel Aughey found the stomachs of two of these birds “crammed with the destructive Rocky Mountain locust.”

Grinnell, Bryant, and Storer (1918) mention a bird taken in California which had in its stomach “14 small snails, 1 small bivalve mollusk, and parts of 2 or more small crabs.” I once watched a bird in Florida, which fed for some time on the broken remains of a dead crab.

_Behavior._--Mr. Brandt, in his notes, pays the following tribute to the power of flight of this fine bird:

Only those who have met the lordly black-bellied plover
on his native heath can appreciate how he seems to rule
with a martial air the domains under his control.
Powerful of wing stroke, trim of form as a grayhound,
and erect of carriage, this, the largest of our common
plovers, is the athlete of the wild birds of the North.
Neatly vestured in his silvery white and ebony black, he
is the fleetest racer of the air among a field of highly
developed specialists. To consider him swifter than the
graceful long-tailed jaeger or the far-ranging golden
plover is indeed a startling claim, but my judgment is
that the black-bellied plover can pass through the air
faster than any other feathered creature in the North. At
some time in the future it will be of great interest for
some enterprising ornithologist to test out in his racing
aeroplane the various flying speeds of the northern birds.
It is my prediction that the shore birds will be found to
lead the field there, and that the big black-bellied plover
will surpass them all. The Pacific godwit is a wonderful
air master, darting here and there with but the slightest
effort, yet our plover seems to have only one gear, and
that high speed. This may be best appreciated during
the gales that are of such frequent occurrence in that
storm-swept land. The bird can quarter, or fly into the
teeth of the wind, with such power as almost to disregard
it.

The above picture is not overdrawn, for this plover is one of our strongest fliers. Migrating flocks fly high in great bunches or massed formations, after the manner of many ducks. When flying short distances or when coming in over the flats they fly low and are often strung out in lines. Their flight seems to me to be steadier or more duck-like than that of the smaller shore birds. The powerful, pointed wings move very swiftly; Doctor Oberholser and I once made a number of accurate counts of the wing beats of this and several other species in normal flight; eight counts for this plover averaged 240 beats a minute, or 4 beats a second; the slowest was 225 and the fastest 250.

The black-bellied plover is wont to stand erect, with head held high, in an attitude of dignified yet alert repose; it can be recognized by its bold outline almost as far as it can be seen, away out on the shimmering sands. It is a wary sentinel for all of its smaller companions and it is utterly useless to attempt to approach it in an open situation. It runs swiftly along at the water’s edge, stopping frequently to look about or striking quickly at some morsel of food. Dr. Charles W. Townsend (1905) says that they throw “the feet well out in front as they run. Their usual stride is 3 or 4 inches, but I have several times measured tracks that were 6 inches apart.” It is interesting to watch them bathing; they squat down in shallow water and spend much time in splashing, fluttering the wings, and dipping their heads; then comes the drying process, shaking the water out of the body plumage, flapping wings and wagging tails, followed by a long period of careful preening. Francis H. Allen writes to me of another method of bathing, as follows:

At one time they took to bathing, one after another, and
one pretty little performance was to fly up about a foot
and come splashing down into the water with much fluttering
of wings. One started this play, and another and another
took it up till half a dozen or more had gone through it.
They also hopped on one foot in the water, as shore birds
so often do on the beach, and, in this, one set the fashion
and others followed it. This hopping altogether seems to be
quite common play with various species.

Like most shore birds, they can swim quite easily, as the following note from Francis M. Weston will show:

On March 27 I was watching a small flock of black-bellied
plovers feeding on a sand bar at low tide. One of the birds
was separated from the others by a deep pool about 6 feet
wide, and, in order to join them, entered the water and
swam across the pool. While in the water, it reminded me
very much of a diminutive gull--it floated high in the
“stern” with the forward part of the body low in the water.
The transit of the pool was made so quickly that there
was no time for a detailed study of the bird’s motions.
Thinking that the plover was wounded and had had to swim
through lack of ability to fly, I approached the flock,
when all took wing and flew to another bar several hundred
yards distant. An examination of the pool showed that it
was more than a foot deep--far too deep for a bird of that
size to wade.

_Voice._--To my mind the whistle of the black-bellied plover is one of the sweetest and most fascinating of all the Limicoline voices; it is not quite as melodious as that of the piping plover, nor is it quite as startling as the loud call of the yellowlegs; but it heralds the coming of one of our finest shore birds and hence it produces a thrill. The sportsman loves to hear it and he can imitate it quite easily. John T. Nichols has contributed the following notes on it:

The flight note of this species is a clear, mellow, ringing
whistle--_pe-oo-ee_. Although shortened and otherwise
varied at different times, this note is the only one
ordinarily heard from single individuals or small flocks.
In general it may be said that the diagnostic flight or
identification note of plovers is used more extensively
than in yellowlegs and other species, for instance, and
that they seem to have less variety of calls.

A second note heard from a flock of birds either in the air
or alighted, and in chorus when such a flock is flushed,
circling and hovering in uncertain manner, is a soft,
mellow _quu-hu_. A dissimilar unloud _cuk cuk cuk, cuk,
cuk, cuk cuk cuk cuk_ which I heard from a single bird in
Florida in September, alighted with decoys and running
about, completes my knowledge of the calls of this plover.

The ordinary call note, referred to above, has a sweet, mellow, and plaintive quality, with a tinge of wildness, which enlivens the solitude of the ocean beaches; I should write it _pee-u-wee_, the first, loud, rich, and prolonged, the second lower and shorter, and the third higher pitched, more plaintive, and softer. Grinnell, Bryant, and Storer (1918) describe the note as “a loud, ringing _wher-rell_, far reaching and, at a distance, clear and mellow in quality.” Dr. E. R. P. Janvrin tells me that he has “also heard them utter a loud note resembling that of the common tern, but not so harsh and more musical, which is apparently an alarm note.”

_Field marks._--The black axillars, on the under side of the wing next to the body, are very conspicuous when the bird is flying and form the most reliable field mark in all plumages. The general outline of the bird is characteristic, with its large head, short, heavy bill, and erect carriage. The upper parts are light colored in all plumages, especially so in spring, the upper tail coverts are nearly white and there is a white band in the spread wing. In the fully black-breasted plumage the black of the under parts does not extend so far back as on the golden plover and the crown is much whiter. The presence of a hind toe may be detected at a short distance.

_Fall._--The southward migration begins early in July and spreads out entirely across the continent. Before the end of August the last of the black-bellied plover have left their breeding grounds. The first of the adults sometimes reach Massachusetts as early as the second week in July; my earliest date is July 7; but the main flight comes in August and most of the adults have left by the middle of September, though I have seen adults here as late as October 29. The young birds come later; I have seen them as early as August 10, but they usually do not come in any numbers until September, and the heaviest flight is between September 15 and October 15; a few linger into November. While here they mingle freely with knots, turnstones, and red-backed sandpipers; any of the smaller sandpipers are likely to be associated with them.

Professor Rowan (1923) gives much the same dates for Alberta and says that the young birds are plentiful through October and “may stay right into November, even for a week or two after the lakes have frozen over.” M. P. Skinner tells me that he has seen them in Yellowstone Park late in September with the thermometer down to zero. Mr. Rathbun tells me that “the black-bellied plover is a regular and somewhat common spring and autumn migrant along the coast of Washington and about Puget Sound.” D. E. Brown’s notes from that region give dates extending from August 26 to October 2.

_Game._--It is as a game bird that the black-bellied plover or “beetlehead,” as it is called on Cape Cod, has achieved its greatest reputation. There is no shore bird that is better known or more eagerly sought; for it is not only a large plump bird but it is a swift flier, and one of the wariest, most sagacious, and most difficult of the beach birds to secure. To meet with any success in shooting this plover the sportsman must be familiar with its habits in the locality where he is shooting, must be well concealed in a skillfully made blind, and must know how to imitate its notes perfectly. The old black-bellied birds are particularly wary and will not come to the decoys unless the surroundings are quite natural in appearance. Mr. Mackay (1892) says:

After many unsuccessful attempts to capture them one
becomes imbued with the fact that the old birds are well
calculated, under ordinary circumstances, to avoid danger;
they succumb only to those sportsmen who have served a long
apprenticeship, and who have acquired a knowledge of their
habits.

John C. Cahoon (1888), a veteran gunner and collector, has described various methods used on Cape Cod, as follows:

Stands are built on the meadows and marshes by cutting
bushes of about the proper height and sticking them in the
grass or mud so as to form a circle of convenient size for
one or more gunners. If bushes can not be found handily,
dry seaweed, grass, and other materials are sometimes used.
On the mud flats bunches of sedge grass afford concealment,
but the most successful method is to make a bar in the sand
flats and sink a box, or dig a pit in the sand. It requires
considerable labor to build and keep a bar in order, also
to sink a box. The bar is laid bare before any of the
surrounding flats, consequently the birds, finding no other
feeding place uncovered, fly to the bar. One other way in
which large numbers are sometimes taken is to find out
the locality on the high beaches where they roost during
high tide, and digging a hole in the sand for a place of
concealment. They usually come to the same spot to roost
each high tide and by examining the beach these places can
be easily found, by the numerous footprints in the sand.
The blind should be completed soon after the tide begins to
flow, as these birds leave the flats as soon as the tide
commences to cover them. For the young, or “pale bellies,”
all that is needed is a pit dug with the sand thrown out
around the top edge and a few decoys placed out the right
distance from the pit. For the old “black breasts” it is
necessary to have the top covered over with boards and
dry sand spread on them and have an opening in the sides
and front, to shoot from. It is best not to put out any
decoys, as the old birds will seldom alight to decoys on
the beaches, even if they are made to look very natural.

Most of my shooting has been done on the flats or beaches, from sedge grass or seaweed blinds. On the inner side of Monomoy the water is very shallow and at dead low tide the birds are away off, perhaps a mile from shore, on the edge of the water. The flats near shore are dotted with islands of sedge grass, where the gunner can easily conceal himself in the tall grass, with the decoys set out on the open mud. As the tide comes in rapidly over the shallows, preceded by an advancing line of foam, the birds begin to move, flying up to the marshes or beaches. A blind may be made on the inner side of the beach by digging a deep hole in the sand and piling up seaweed around it. In either case the blind must be in some well-established fly way between the feeding grounds and the resting places and must be well enough made to offer good concealment. The best shooting comes on the first part of the ebb and the latter part of the flood tide. The gunner must keep out of sight and be ever on the alert, for at any moment he may hear the wild, ringing cry or see single birds or small flocks dash by at high speed. They seldom alight to the decoys, though they often circle over them and are usually much scattered.

I have often found it good sport to stalk “beetleheads” on the beaches, where they rest at high tide. One kills very few birds in this way, as the chances are all in favor of the bird. Young birds are less wary than old blackbreasts and a few can sometimes be obtained by crawling up back of a sand dune and shooting them as they jump. This involves plenty of exercise, requires perseverance, and calls for quick work with the gun, and the bird generally escapes. Walter H. Rich (1907) has described this very well, as follows:

Yet let the gunner peep ever so carefully over the edge
of the bank where he lies hidden and each wary feeder
becomes at once a motionless statue. Had he not seen their
animation a moment before he might think he had come upon
a wooden congregation of decoys. While he is still they
make no movement, but let him stir, either for nearer
approach or to draw back from view that he may get a better
position, and the instant his head goes out of sight behind
the long salt grass the flock noiselessly takes wing with
easy, graceful flight, alighting some hundreds of yards
away to feed comfortably until the dangerous admirer, with
stealthy caution and much toilsome trudging through the
shifting sand dunes, once more approaches too near for
safety, when the same performance again takes place. It
makes little difference how the approach is managed, the
result is generally the same; the gunner peers cautiously
at the spot where a moment since the flock was busily
feeding, and seeing them not soon discovers them 200 yards
away, apparently just as ready to tease him as before.

_Winter._--These plover, no longer black bellied now, spend the winter in the southern United States and from there southward to central Brazil and Peru. They winter commonly as far north as South Carolina and the southern half of California, less commonly in North Carolina, and casually farther north. I have seen them in immense flocks on the great mud flats among the Florida keys and we had them with us all winter on the beaches and sandy islands about Tampa Bay. They showed their sagacity by their confiding tameness on the protected bathing beaches and by their extreme wildness on the outer islands, where it was almost impossible to approach them within gunshot range.

The gray plover of the Eastern Hemisphere goes as far south in winter as southern Africa, Madagascar, and Australia. Charles Barrett, referring to Australia, says in his notes: