Whence come these birds? This is a question that is often asked, but most difficult of solution. That they winter beyond the borders of the United States there can be no doubt. After quitting our shores, it is highly probable they seek the tropical realms of Central America, or the breezy isles of the Larger Antilles.
But wherever they go, there they remain until the snows of their northern homes have disappeared. So delicate and susceptible to cold are they that even along our Southern sea-bordering States, where the felicitous change first manifests itself, they delay their visit until the early days of April are come. But it is not until this delightful month of the year has stepped aside to welcome her smiling sister, that the cooler shores of New Jersey are reached. From this latitude they pursue their journey to the extreme limits of their habitat.
After a little they settle down to the very important business which has inspired the journey. The twenty-fifth of May, or the beginning of the month sacred to Juno, marks the love-season, which is of short continuance. Having accomplished their loves and selected partners, the sexes now turn their attention to household matters. The first thing to be done is the selection of a spot and the preparation of a home. This part of the business pertains exclusively to the female, and, seemingly, is accounted of trifling moment. Like most of her terrestrial, and many of her aquatic neighbors, she does not build a house, but on the pebbly shingle just back of the beach, places her eggs on the bare ground, with not so much as a bit of sea-weed or of grass beneath them. The merest apology of a nest is often denied them.
The number of eggs deposited varies from one to two, the latter being the ordinary number. Instances are recorded where as many as three have been found as a nest-complement, but there certainly must be some mistake, which could easily happen in localities where many birds are breeding together. Where more than one is laid, a day usually intervenes between the two deposits. Nothing is more difficult to find, even when plentiful, than the eggs of this species, owing to the similarity of their color to the surroundings. Their ground sometimes presents a greenish-white color, but tends more to olivaceous or dull drab. The markings are numerous, pretty generally diffused, but when of large size, are mostly wreathed about the larger extremity. They consist of irregular blotches and dots of different shades of brown, interspersed with numerous obscure spots of lilac. Their average measurements are 1.26 by 1.02 inches.
Having committed her treasures to mother-earth, the female has little else to do than to guard them from harm. The heat of the sand, when the skies are undimmed by cloud or mist, is sufficient for hatching purposes. The application of living heat, so to speak, is unnecessary, and it is even a question in our minds whether the female could endure the inconvenience and trials of the incubating process, in the midst of a broiling sun upon a sandy sea-shore. But during wet and stormy weather, and at night, this duty is actually incumbent upon her.
The appearance of the young, after a period of sixteen or seventeen days, brings the parents nearer together, and keeps them more at home. While kind and affectionate to each other, it is the attention which they bestow upon their happy little family that commands our admiration, and gives special prominence to their character. With true parental instinct they watch over their early helplessness, and provide them with an abundance of wholesome diet. Beetles, spiders, crickets and other insects, as well as prawns, shrimps, skippers and small fish, form their dietary. But it is not only by feeding them that they conserve to their well-being, but also by protecting them when assailed by enemies. The sight of an intruder is greeted with shrill cries of remonstrance from a whole chorus of voices. This not having the desired effect, a score of angry birds of both sexes dash boldly upon him, as though to punish him for such rashness.
By the middle of June the earliest broods are on the wing. This, however, is rather premature, for the greater part are not in a condition for flight until the fore part of the month after. Associated with them may often be seen plenty of immature birds of last summer's hatchings, as well as the adults themselves. The yearlings are easily distinguished by the black bill, slightly forked tail, slate-colored occiput and auriculars, imperfect coloration of the primaries, absence of black cap or white crescent, and the presence of a dark band along the edge of the wing. With birds of the season, which show a strangely-variegated dress of grayish-brown and white, there is no possibility of being mistaken or confounded. The assumption of the perfect plumage usually requires a period of two years. Both sexes are similarly clad. During the breeding-season they have the entire upper parts and wings of a clear bluish-gray, variegated with a triangular white spot on the forehead reaching to the eye, and deep black crown and occiput, as well as a line from the eye to the upper mandible of the same color. The first ten primary wing feathers have the shafts black, the outer webs and half the inner next the shaft, grayish-black, ends concolorous, and inner margins white. The remaining primaries are of the same color as the back, with inner margins white. Excepting the outer borders of the external feathers, and the inner webs of the others basally, which are white, the tail is slaty. The whole under parts are of a lustrous white color, while the bill is a pale orange-yellow, iris hazel, and legs and feet a light orange-red. The length of these birds is about nine inches; their wings six and three-quarters, and the tail a trifle more than one-half of the latter measurement. Young birds are correspondingly smaller.
