Columbia, Nootka Sound, July 23, Tahsis Canal, July 26, and Okanagan
Landing, July 28; Washington, The Olympiades, July 16; California,
Alameda, July 8, and Santa Barbara, July 12; Lower California, Santa
Rosalia Bay, August 16, and San Jose del Cabo, August 23; Saskatchewan,
Big Stick Lake, July 19, and Cochrane River, July 23; Manitoba, Red
Deer River, July 22, Lake Winnipegosis, July 22, and Oak Lake, July
28; North Dakota, Kenmare, July 18; South Dakota, Forestburg, July 27,
Nebraska, Lincoln, August 9; Texas, Tivoli, September 2; Minnesota,
Minneapolis, July 17; Iowa, Sioux City, August 5, and Marshalltown,
August 10; Ontario, Toronto, July 22, Coldstream, July 29, and
Brighton, July 31; Michigan, Charity Island, July 25, Jackson, July
25, and Detroit, July 31; Ohio, Bay Point, July 3, Oberlin, July 6,
Cedar Point, July 8, and Lakeside, July 17; Indiana, Bass Lake, August
1; Illinois, Chicago, July 22, and La Grange, August 7; Missouri, St.
Louis, August 20; Mississippi, Beauvoir, July 22; Louisiana, Bayou
Chene, August 29; Maine, Portland, July 18, and Squirrel Island,
July 31; Massachusetts, Lynn, July 18; Marthas Vineyard, July 20,
and Harvard, July 26; Rhode Island, South Auburn, July 23, and Block
Island, July 25; Connecticut, New Haven, July 30; New York, Long Beach,
July 3, Orient, July 6, and Brockport, July 28; New Jersey, Long Beach,
July 19, Brigantine Beach, July 25, and Elizabeth, July 31; North
Carolina, Myrtle Sound, July 10; South Carolina, Frogmore, July 20, and
Charleston, July 21; Florida, Palma Sola, July 10, Daytona Beach, July
19, and Pensacola, July 26; Bermuda, August 12; the Bahama Islands,
Long Island, July 17; Cuba, Batabono, August 26; Lesser Antilles,
Grenada, August 24, and Dominica, August 29; Panama, Toro Point, July
23; Brazil, Santa Catarina, August 4; and Colombia, Santa Marta region,
September 13.
Late dates of fall departure are: British Columbia, Chilliwack,
August 23, Atlin, August 24, and Okanagan Landing, September 3;
Mackenzie, Fort Simpson, September 1, and Fort Resolution, September 1;
Saskatchewan, Indian Head, September 2; Manitoba, Shoal Lake, September
14, Aweme, September 14, and Oak Lake, September 20; Nebraska, Lincoln,
October 14; Minnesota, Lanesboro, September 15; Iowa, Emmetsburg,
September 24, and Grinnell, October 22; Ontario, Toronto, October
26, and Point Pelee, October 29; Michigan, Portage Lake, October 25,
and Detroit, October 29; Ohio, Oberlin, October 21, and Youngstown,
November 2; Indiana, Hobart, September 24, and Peru, October 2;
Illinois, Rantoul, October 15, and Chicago, October 28; Kentucky,
Lexington, September 17; Missouri, St. Louis, September 25; Prince
Edward Island, North River, October 27; Nova Scotia, Wolfville, October
22; New Brunswick, Scotch Lake, September 23; Quebec, Montreal, October
20; Maine, Lewiston, October 13; Massachusetts, Lynn, October 12,
Cambridge, October 26, and Dennis, October 27; Connecticut, Fairfield,
October 22, Norwalk, October 26, and New Haven, October 31; New York,
East Hampton, October 22, Port Chester, October 25, and Long Beach,
October 28; New Jersey, Sandy Hook, October 25; and Pennsylvania, Erie,
November 2.
_Casual records._--The semipalmated plover is more or less rare in the
southern Rocky Mountain region where records are so few that it can be
considered only as casual. Among these records are: Utah, Salt Lake
City (reported by Nelson); Colorado, Denver, April 27, 1907, Loveland,
May 6, 1890, and Grand Lake, Middle Park (Carter Collection); and
Arizona, Fort Verde, September 8, 1884, Colorado River, September and
October, 1865 (Coues), and Tucson, April, 1883 (Scott).
_Egg dates._--Labrador and Ungava: 42 records, June 7 to July 7; 21
records, June 18 to July 1. Quebec to Nova Scotia: 33 records, June 5
to 29; 17 records, June 15 to 23. Arctic coast of Canada: 18 records,
June 16 to July 20; 9 records, June 23 to July 4. Alaska and British
Columbia; 19 records, May 27 to July 6; 10 records, June 1 to 9.
CHARADRIUS HIATICULA Linnaeus
RINGED PLOVER
_Contributed by Francis Charles Robert Jourdain_
HABITS
The ringed plover breeds both on the east and west coasts of Greenland,
ranging north to Sabine and Clavering Islands and Denmark Harbor on
the east side and to Inglefield Gulf on the west. It is also said to
breed near Cumberland Sound in Baffin Land, but this may refer to the
semipalmated plover, _Charadrius semipalmatus_, and it has occurred
casually in Barbados, Chile, and southern Alaska.
The subdivision of the ringed plover into geographical races is
attended with considerable difficulties owing to the presence of
passing migrants on many of its breeding grounds. The Siberian form,
_Charadrius hiaticula tundrae_ is generally recognized, but is only
distinguishable with certainty in summer plumage. Probably the
Alaskan specimen belongs to this race. E. Lehn Schiöler, with fine
series of carefully sexed birds before him, separates the Greenland
breeding birds from the typical race under the name of _Ch. hiaticula
septentrionalis_, but material with accurate data is too scarce in
other collections to enable us to hazard an opinion.
_Spring._--In northeast Greenland, where Manniche found this species
breeding plentifully, the birds arrived about the end of May or the
beginning of June, at the same time as the other waders. Icelandic
birds arrive early: April 22 to 28 (Faber).
Dr. W. Elmer Ekblaw says in his notes:
The ringed plover is one of the most noticeable birds of
the shorelands of northwest Greenland. Few beaches are
unoccupied by these noisy little birds, and rarely is one
out of sound of their shrill piping. They are quite as
common about the streams and pools of the interior and
along the seepage swales of the ground moraines. They come
to the land as early as May 29 and stay until the last week
in July. Almost invariably they are mated when they arrive
and only rarely does one see more than a pair together,
except where they congregate about swales or shallow pools
to feed. They are sociably inclined and do not hesitate to
make their nests near the Eskimo villages, probably feeling
more secure from Arctic foxes when near dogs and human
habitation.
_Courtship._--The courtship of this species has been well described by
Farren, Selous, and Stanford. The former (1910) says:
Ringed plovers may be seen in pairs skimming low over the
ground, circling to a far height and descending again
like a flash, almost touching the ground as they do so.
They do not follow each other, but each describes similar
evolutions, overlapping and crossing the other’s line of
flight. Their long pointed wings, showing much white, give
a fictitious impression of size and as they alight on the
ground after skimming a short distance with curved drooping
wings they seem suddenly to vanish from sight as they touch
ground; in place of the long-winged graceful flyer is a
little plump-shaped gray bird, very difficult to see as it
runs with short quick steps over the sand.
Edmund Selous (1901) also describes a male as advancing toward the
hen a few steps at a time, and moving his legs with a rapid vibratory
motion during the pauses. Stanford (1927) remarks that the courtship is
by no means easy to observe even with the aid of a powerful glass.
In one party on the beach on March 20, where at least
two males were contending for one female, the males ran
backward and forward with short, quick steps, and when
another male was near the feathers of the back and the tips
of the closed wings were elevated, the tall depressed and
spread out to its full extent to show the white tips of the
feathers, and the whole body arched with the head and neck
drawn in, the black gorget being puffed out to nearly twice
its normal size. In this crouching attitude the males ran
aimlessly to and fro for half an hour at a time, but making
no real attempt to attack each other.
Another male--
kept running in front of the hen and sinking down on the
beach every few yards exactly as if settling down on a
nest. Occasionally while brooding in this way he would
tilt himself forward onto his breast with the closed wing
tips pointing up almost vertically over his back, the tail
depressed, and the legs scratching out sand and stones
behind him. The indifference displayed by the hen to this
performance was as noticeable as it usually is in the case
of lapwings’ “rolling” on the ground. On several other
occasions in April I saw cock ringed plovers settle down
and appear to brood for several minutes exactly as if they
were on a nest; in one case the bird kept turning round
and round on one spot, and twice at least this action was
followed by an attempt at coition.
The love flight often covers nearly a mile of ground, and both birds
take part--crossing and recrossing with their bodies twisting from
side to side and soft beats of the wings. The double note, according
to Stanford, has a remarkably vibrant quality at these times and the
throat appears to be swelled out.
_Nesting._--Both nesting sites and the nests themselves of this species
vary considerably. The commonest site is among the sand and shingle
above high-water mark on the seashore. In some cases the eggs are
laid in a hollow scratched in the sand with no lining of any kind, in
others small fragments of cockle shells and small stones are collected
and imbedded, while other nests are more or less substantially built,
from a few dead bents carelessly arranged to well-made cups in which
almost any material available is utilized, such as driftwood, rabbits’
droppings, stems of leaves, and shore plants, etc. On some beaches
where there is no sand the eggs may be found lying on the bare pebbles,
while on the north Norfolk coast they are often placed under shelter of
sea heath, and nests have been met with in cornfields, several miles
from the sea, or on open grassland in sewage farms inland.
_Eggs._--Normally four in number, occasionally three on late layings,
while instances of five are rare. In color they vary from stone color
to ocherous or clay yellow sometimes with a warm tinge, spotted as a
rule rather sparingly with brownish black. Occasionally varieties with
large blotches of sepia are met with and white eggs have been recorded
as well as bluish eggs, without markings. The shell is deep green when
viewed from within. The measurements of 100 British eggs, made by the
writer, averaged 35.9 by 25.9 millimeters; the eggs showing the four
extremes measure =39= by 26.5, 37 by =28.5=, =32.2= by 25 and 32.7 by
=24= millimeters. Eggs from Iceland and other northern localities are
decidedly smaller.
_Young._--Incubation is shared by both sexes which relieve one another
at short intervals and the period is variously estimated at from 22 to
25 days; probably 24 or 25 days represents the average. The young are
hatched within 24 hours and leave the nest as soon as the down is dry.
Apparently a second brood is reared in some cases, but many of the late
nests may be second or third layings.
Doctor Ekblaw writes:
The old birds were wildly agitated whenever I approached,
and by the customary simulation of injury attempted to
lead me away from the nest. The fledglings ran about as
soon as hatched, and like all little shorebirds were quick
to respond to a warning signal and sink into pebble-like
immobility. The weather was so cold that the old birds did
not leave the young, for when the brood was separated both
parents sheltered some of the little ones.
_Plumages._--The plumages and molts are fully described in A Practical
Handbook of British Birds, edited by H. F. Witherby (1920).
_Food._--Insects, including Coleoptera (_Apion_, _Aphodius_,
_Haliplus_, _Hydroporus_, etc.), Crustacea, especially the smaller
species (Gammaridae, Amphipoda, etc.), Mollusca, chiefly small marine
univalves, such as Littorina, Annelida (earthworms), and vegetable
matter (seeds of _Polygonum_, etc.).
_Behavior._--This is an attractive and inoffensive species, sociable
in its habits and met with in flocks of considerable size out of the
breeding season, when their simultaneous maneuvers on the wing are
a very characteristic feature of the great estuaries, the flocks
appearing to change from light to dark as the upper or under surfaces
are exposed. They may also be seen on the mud flats, making short runs
at intervals, when the movements of the legs and feet are so rapid that
the eye can not follow them.
_Voice._--John T. Nichols contributes the following:
A rather clear, not very loud, low-pitched whistle, given
on the ground as much as in the air, rather infrequent.
This may be written _kruip_ or _puik_, occasionally
distinctly two syllabled and suggesting the semipalmated
plover’s call, but lower pitched. It was heard in late
September from several birds loosely associated with a
larger number of scattered dunlin on tidal sands north
of Liverpool. They usually took wing in silence, and the
species seems to be a rather silent one as seen here
and elsewhere on British shores in September. They were
very likely not traveling, and their voice therefore not
comparable with that of the semipalmated on home shores.
Also the note described is very likely not analogous with
the full, loud-flight note of the transient semipalmated
plover.
_Enemies._--During the autumn and winter months the flocks are
occasionally harried by a migrating merlin (_Falco columbarius
aesalon_), and some clutches of eggs are annually destroyed by
marauding Corvidae (crows) and Laridae (gulls). On some parts of the
coast which are much exposed, great damage is done by exceptionally
high tides, as many nests are built close to the high-water mark.
_Fall._--In Greenland Manniche (1910) observed that the old birds left
in pairs about the first week in August, as soon as the young were
grown up. The young birds immediately went to the shores and estuaries,
consorting with young sanderlings and turnstones and leaving for the
south early in September. At the Westmann Isles in south Iceland they
leave between September 20 and October 10.
_Winter._--In the British Isles the wintering birds are to be met
with in flocks on most of our larger estuaries. When on the wing they
sometimes associate with dunlin and also occasionally with redshanks.
DISTRIBUTION
_Breeding range._--In the Old World, commonly in the British Isles and
sparingly in the Faroes and Iceland; also probably on Bear Island and
a few pairs in Spitsbergen as well as on Waigatz, Kolguev, and Nova
Zembla. On the European Continent, from the Arctic Ocean south to the
Mediterranean, chiefly on the seacoasts, and only locally by lakes and
rivers. In the Mediterranean it is local on some of the islands and
nowhere plentiful. The north Asiatic race has been separated, while in
the New World its breeding range includes both coasts of Greenland and
perhaps the east coast of Baffin Land, unless the last statement is due
to confusion with the semipalmated plover.
_Winter range._--Many remain in the British Isles through the winter,
but birds from northern Europe migrate to the Mediterranean region and
Africa, where they have been recorded as far south as Cape Province and
Natal, the majority wintering south of the Sahara. The Atlantic Isles
(Canaries, Madeira, and Azores) are visited on passage, and Asiatic
birds have been recorded from the Indo-Malayan archipelago and even
Australia, though some doubt has been cast on this.
_Spring migration._--The principal passage at Gibraltar takes place in
March, the latest birds leaving in April. From about mid March to mid
April old birds are on passage northward and the breeding ground in
Norway is reached in April, and in Sweden from late March onward.
_Fall migration._--In northern Europe (Norway and Sweden) the southward
movement takes place in September and at the Straits of Gibraltar the
passage lasts from September to November. At Heligoland young birds
begin to pass as early as the end of June and the beginning of July.
_Casual records._--In Jan Mayen it apparently occurs in some numbers,
but is not known to breed. Barbados, one, Chancery Lane, September
10. Gould’s record of one from Port Stevens, Australia, is a somewhat
questionable one. One obtained at Sultanpur, south of Delhi, November,
1878; another at Gilgit, October, 1879. (These records must refer to
the Siberian race, as also probably the Chilean occurrence and that
from Sitka, Alaska.)
_Egg dates._--In northeast Greenland Manniche found eggs from June 17
to July 18, while in Nova Zembla the young were recently hatched at the
beginning of August and eggs probably laid late in June or early in
July. In the British Isles eggs have been met with in March, but most
eggs are laid from the end of April onward. April 16 to 30 (5 dates),
May 1 to 14 (10 dates), May 15 to 31 (21 dates), June 1 to 30 (23
dates), July 1 to 30 (7 dates).
CHARADRIUS DUBIUS CURONICUS Gmelin
LITTLE RINGED PLOVER
_Contributed by Francis Charles Robert Jourdain_
HABITS
The little ringed plover owes its place in the American list to a
casual occurrence at Kodiak Island, Alaska. It is noteworthy that in
J. F. von Brandt’s paper in the Journal für Ornithologie, 1891, the
Alaskan specimen is recorded as “_Charadrius alexandrinus_ Pall.” There
is also a specimen in the United States National Museum (No. 39523)
which is said to have been taken at San Francisco, but some doubt
appertains to the latter record.
_Spring._--The range of this species does not extend far to the north
in western Europe and it is only a rare straggler to the British Isles.
In northern Germany it appears in fair numbers on the larger rivers and
at lakesides, about the middle of March, but except in southern Sweden
few cross the Baltic to breed.
_Courtship._--H. F. Witherby (1919) has some interesting notes on
this species which was breeding in company with the Kentish plover
(_Charadrius alexandrinus_) near Dunkerque, in northern France.
On April 28 the little ringed plovers were flying round
after each other, with a beautiful slow, long, flap of
the wings, much like the flight of a large butterfly and
uttering a pleasing little song. This was evidently a
“courtship” action and we found many “scoops” in the sand,
but no eggs.
Liebe describes the song flight as beginning with a zigzag oblique
ascent, followed by short horizontal flights at various angles over
the gravelly bed where the hen is sitting, uttering meantime his
musical whistle, which is answered by the bird beneath, and ending
in a sharp descent in a curve toward the water’s edge and thence
with low, skimming flight to the hen. The little ring plover is a
much more demonstrative and noisy species than the ringed plover and
when its breeding haunts are approached instead of running off with
a low whistle and then flying a short distance ahead, it flies round
and round the intruder with loud repeated whistling notes. Naumann
(1887) expresses the pairing song by the words “_duh, du dull lull
lullullul_,” taken in slow time and ending with a wonderful trill only
to be heard on the breeding ground.
_Nesting._--Continental writers lay much stress on the fact that this
bird by preference always makes the nest in gravelly patches rather
than in sand. This is not invariably the case, as the bird builds
freely on sand banks in rivers where there is no shingle or gravel,
and at times also on dry mud. It may be found nesting far inland,
but nearly always in the neighborhood of water and shows a decided
preference for the shores of fresh-water lakes and the larger rivers
rather than the seashore.
_Eggs._--The normal clutch is four, though three is not an uncommon
number, and generally they are readily distinguishable from those of
the other sand plovers. They are more pyriform in shape than those of
the Kentish plover, and average less in size than either of the two
other common European species. In color the ground color is often
grayish when fresh but dries out to a yellowish stone or pale reddish
ocherous, with many fine streaks and spots of dark brown and numerous
small ashy streaks or spots. On the whole the markings are paler and
scantier than with the Kentish plover, but in rare cases large blotches
of rich brown and ash colors are found in some sets, and others show an
approach to the normal type of Kentish plover. The eggs are laid in a
mere hollow without lining in the gravel. The measurements of 100 eggs
(68 by the writer and 32 by Rey) average 29.8 by 22.08 millimeters; the
eggs showing the four extremes measure =32.8= by 23, 30.1 by =23.5=,
=27.3= by 21.1, and 28.6 by =21= millimeters.
_Young._--Incubation is said by Naumann (1887) to be apparently
performed by both sexes, but in warm and sunny weather the eggs are
left for long periods uncovered. The period is over 22 days, probably
23 or 24 (not 16 or 17 as erroneously given by Naumann). Only one brood
is reared in the season as a rule, but some dates are extremely late
and point to an occasional second brood.
_Plumages._--The plumages and molts are fully described in A Practical
Handbook of British Birds, edited by H. F. Witherby (1920).
_Food._--Definite records are scanty, but it is evident that the main
food consists of insects, including the smaller Coleoptera and their
larvae; Diptera and larvae; Neuroptera (Phryganeidae or caddis flies
and larvae). Naumann also found a small worm in one case in the stomach.
_Behavior._--Witherby (1919) writes:
The little ringed plover is even more demonstrative than
the Kentish and it is shyer and more difficult to mark onto
its nest or young. Both species have a very plaintive alarm
note which they utter constantly as they fly round the
intruder, but the Kentish is less fussy and less noisy than
the little ringed. When one is near the young both species
go through various outcries, such as running along the
ground crouching low with head stretched out, lying on the
side with one wing up, the legs stretched out and the tail
spread, or with the breast on the ground and both wings
half spread, but the performance of the Kentish is much
less abandoned than that of the little ringed.
P. W. Munn (1921) also writes:
The behavior of the birds at their nest is totally
different from Kentish plovers, which are not demonstrative
whilst they have eggs; but the little ringed plover flies
wildly round and round, twisting and doubling and uttering
its wild whistle, or else runs frantically about on the
ground, whistling plaintively.
_Enemies._--The eggs are occasionally taken by Corvidae, and the birds
themselves sometimes fall victims to Accipitres.
DISTRIBUTION
_Breeding range._--Central and southern Europe, from France, Denmark,
southern Sweden, southern Finland and 64° N. in Russia, south to the
Mediterranean and its islands and Africa north of the Sahara. In Asia
its range extends across Siberia to the Pacific and includes also
Japan. In India and the Philippines, Hainan, and Formosa it is replaced
by other subspecies. It does not breed in the British Isles, but nests
in Madeira and the Canaries.
_Winter range._--Winters in tropical Africa, south to the Gold Coast,
Fernando Po, the lower Niger, Lakes Rudolf, Albert and Victoria Nyanza,
and the Red Sea coast; in Asia to Arabia and India and also to the
Sunday Islands and perhaps New Guinea.
_Spring migration._--In south Spain it arrives about mid March and is
widely distributed in April, while in the eastern Mediterranean the
passage takes place in Crete and Corfu in April. On Heligoland it is
only a rare straggler.
_Fall migration._--The north German breeding birds leave for the south
at the end of September. Farther south the presence of immigrants from
the north among the breeding birds is seldom noted.
_Casual records._--In the British Isles there are about 10
well-authenticated records; April (2), August (4), and October (1
or 2). The supposed records from Iceland and the Faroes are not
authenticated. Gaetke only records 2 at Heligoland in 50 years.
_Egg dates._--In northern Africa eggs have been found from March
onward; in Spain and the Balearic Isles, March 16 (1 date), April 15 to
30 (3 dates), May 1 to 14 (4 dates), 15 to 30 (3 dates); late dates,
June 12 and July 11. In France and Germany, May 3 to 17 (7 dates), 18
to 31 (8 dates); June 1 to 15 (5 dates); late dates, July 19 and 22.
CHARADRIUS MELODUS Ord
PIPING PLOVER
HABITS
_Contributed by Winsor Marrett Tyler_
Wilson and Audubon were familiar with the piping plover as a common
summer resident on the sandy beaches of the Atlantic coast. Audubon
found it breeding as far north as the Magdelen Islands and wintering
abundantly on the coast of Florida.
During the years between the time of these early writers and the
present, the species has been subjected to many seasons of spring and
autumn shooting which, in the closing years of the nineteenth century,
brought the bird nearly to the point of extinction.