Western Bird Guide: Birds of the Rockies and West to the Pacific

by Charles K. Reed

Nest.—Is usually placed on pebbly “shingle” or back in the marsh grass on the bare ground; eggs are olive gray, scratched all over with markings of brown and gray (1.40 × 1.05).

Range.—Abundant on the Gulf Coast and of Lower and southern California.

MOUNTAIN PLOVER.

281. Podasocys montanus. 9 inches.

A peculiar species, inhabiting even the driest portions of the western prairies and plains even at high altitudes. It is more quiet, and seems to be less aquatic than any of the Plovers, and is rarely found in the vicinity of the water.

Nest.—Placed on the bare ground in a simple hollow are four eggs, brownish gray, spotted and blotched with shades of brown (1.50 × 1.10).

SNOWY PLOVER.

278. Ægialitis nivosa. 6½ inches.

This is the palest of the Plovers, and one of the smallest. A small black crescent-shaped patch on either side of the breast; a black spot under and back of the eye, and one also on top of the head. They are about the color of the dry sands of the beach, and the young when hatched and running about resemble a small bunch of cotton being blown about on the beach.