It is probable that a few stop and raise their brood by the way, for in Manitoba, where the species is abundant as a migrant, Macoun says: "Abundant in company with the Killdeer, and evidently breeding, as I saw young with them at the Salt Springs on Red Deer River, July 22nd, 1881, at Lake Manitoba."

EGIALITIS MELODA (ORD.).

123. Piping Plover. (277)

Above, very pale ashy-brown; the black bands narrow, often imperfect; bill, colored as in the last, but shorter and stumpy; edges of eyelids, colored; no evident web between inner and middle toes, and only a slight one between middle and outer. Length, about 7 inches; wing, 4; tail, 2.

HAB.-Eastern Province of North America, breeding from the coast of New Jersey (at least formerly) northward; in winter, West Indies.

Eggs, four, deposited among the shingle of the beach, clay color, marked with spots of brownish-black, not exceeding a pin's head in size.

The Piping Plover is a more southern bird than the Ring-neck, and evidently does not penetrate far into Ontario. I have met with

it at Hamilton Beach, but only on two occasions. It has also been found on the island at Toronto, but is more common along the north shore of Lake Erie, and Mr. Saunders reports it as breeding at Point Pelee, at the western end of that lake. When sitting quietly among the shingle of the beach, the colors of this little bird harmonize so well with its surroundings that quite a number may be close at hand without being observed. The birds seem aware of this, and if suspicious of danger, sit perfectly still till it is time to fly, when they rise simultaneously and move off with a soft, plaintive, piping note.

In looking over Mr. Thompson's "Birds of Manitoba," I was surprised to find this species reported as occurring there, Macoun having "shot it in company with some sanderlings on the shore of Lake Manitoba on the 12th June, 1881." Its centre of abundance during the summer is along the Atlantic coast, from the Carolinas north to the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

EGIALITIS NIVOSA CASS.

124. Snowy Plover, (278)

Male in breeding dress:—Above, pale ashy-gray, little darker than in meloda; top of head with a fulvous tinge; a broad black coronal bar from eye to eye; a narrower black post-ocular stripe, tending to meet its fellow on the nape, and thus encircle the fulvous area; a broad black patch on each side of the breast; no sign of its completion above or below; no complete black loral stripe, but indication of such in a small dark patch on either side of base of upper mandible; forehead, continuous with line over the eye, sides of head, excepting the black post-ocular stripe, and whole under parts, excepting the black lateral breast patches, snowy white; no white ring complete around back of neck; primaries, blackish, especially at bases and ends, the intermediate extent fuscous; shaft of first, white, of others, white for a space; nearly all the primaries bleaching toward bases of inner webs, but only some of the inner ones with a white area on outer webs; primary coverts like the primaries, but whitetipped; greater coverts like the back, but white-tipped; secondaries, dark brown, bleaching internally and basally in increasing extent from without inwards, their shafts white along their respective white portions; tertiaries, like back; several intermediate tail feathers like back, darkening toward ends; two or three lateral pairs entirely white; all the feathers more pointed than usual; bill, slender and acute, black; legs, black. Length, 6.50 to 7.00; extent, 13.50 to 14.00; wing, 4.00 to 4.25; tail, 2.00 or less.

HAB.-Western Province of North America; in winter, both coasts of Central America and western South America to Chili.

Eggs, three, placed among the shingle on the beach, pale buff or clay color, finely marked with blackish-brown spots.

The Snowy Plover is a western bird very seldom seen east of the Rocky Mountains, and would not have been mentioned here, but for the following notice of it which appears in the Auk for October, 1885. It is contributed by E. E. Thompson, of Toronto. "A specimen of this bird was shot here by Mr. J. Forman, May, 1880, and is now in the rooms of the Toronto Gun Club. It was at the time in company with some Piping Plovers. This specimen answers in general to the description in 'Coues' Key' and fully in regard to the bill; it differs in being much lighter in plumage. I had no opportunity to make measurements, but in the same case were meloda and semipalmata, and comparison with these makes me almost certain that it is nivosa. The bill is noticeably long, black and slender. I never met the bird before, and have no material to aid me in settling the point."

If Mr. Thompson has correctly identified the specimen described, it can only be regarded as a casual straggler from the far west which may not be seen here again.

Adult, in summer:- Pied above, with black, white, brown and chestnut-red, the latter color wanting in winter and in young birds; below, from the breast (which is more or less completely black); throat, most of the secondaries, bases of the primaries, and bases and tips of the tail feathers, white; bill, black; feet, orange. Length, 8-9 inches; wing, 5-6; tail, 2; bill, , almost recurved; tarsus, 1; tibiæ, bare but a little way.

HAB. Nearly cosmopolitan. In America, from Greenland and Alaska, to the Straits of Magellan; more or less common in the interior of North America, on the shores of the Great Lakes and the larger rivers. Breeds in high latitudes. Nest, a hollow scratched in the earth, lined with bits of grass.

Eggs, two to four; greenish-ash, spotted, blotched and dotted irregularly with yellowish and umber-brown.

In the "Birds of Ohio," Dr. Wheaton says that Mr. Sinnett observed this species on the coast of Texas in the breeding season, and he believes that they breed there.

The beautifully marked Turnstone is a bird of nearly cosmopolitan

distribution. interior.

It is found in America on both coasts, and also in the

At Hamilton Beach it is a regular visitor in spring and fall, but there are seldom more than two or three found together.

They are very sociable in their habits, mixing freely with any other waders they chance to meet, and are seen here till the end of the first week in June.

They are observed again, young and old together, early in September, and linger around the shores of the bay till the end of that month, when they move farther south to spend the winter.

They are migrants throughout Ontario and the North-West, but breed abundantly on the barren lands of the Arctic coast and the Anderson River district, and sparingly in Alaska.

Forehead, super

Coronal feathers erectile, but not forming a true crest. ciliary line and throat, white, bordered with black; crown, neck all round and upper part of breast, brownish-red; other under parts, tawny-whitish, all with more or fewer doubly crescentic black bars; sides, broadly streaked with brownish-red; upper parts, variegated with chestnut, black, gray and tawny, the latter edging the inner quills. Female:-Known by having the throat buff instead of the white, less black about the foreparts, and general colors less intense, rather smaller than the male. Length, 9-10; wing, 44-5: tail, 24-3.

HAB.-Eastern United States and southern Canada, from southern Maine to the South Atlantic and Gulf States, west to Dakota, eastern Kansas and eastern Texas.