.

Black shadows fall
From the lindens tall,
That lift aloft their massive wall
Against the southern sky;

And from the realms
Of the shadowy elms,
A tide-like darkness overwhelms
The fields that round us lie.

But the night is fair
And everywhere
A warm, soft vapor fills the air
And distant sounds seem near;

And above, in the light
Of the star-lit night,
Swift birds of passage wing their flight
Through the dewy atmosphere.

I hear the beat
Of their pinions fleet,
As from the land of snow and sleet
They seek a southern lea.

I hear the cry
Of their voices high
Falling dreamily through the sky,
But their forms I cannot see.
--LONGFELLOW.

THE BELTED PIPING PLOVER.

In the Missouri river region and in contiguous parts of the interior of
the United States, the Belted Piping Plover is a common summer resident,
and is found along the shores of the great lakes, breeding on the flat,
pebbly beach between the sand dunes and shore. It is the second of the
ring-necked Plovers, and arrives in April in scattering flocks, which
separate into pairs a month later. It strays at times into the interior,
and has been known to breed on the borders of ponds many miles from the
coast. In New England, however, it seldom wanders far from the shore,
and prefers sand islands near the main land for its nesting haunts.
Nelson says, that some thirty pairs, which were breeding along the beach
at Waukegan, within a space of two miles, successfully concealed their
nests, for which he made diligent search, although the birds were
continually circling about or standing at a short distance, uttering an
occasional note of alarm.

These birds have a soft, low, piping note, which they utter not only
upon the wing, but occasionally as they run about upon the ground, and,
during the early nesting season, a peculiar, loud, prolonged, musical
call, that readily attracts attention. In other respects, their habits
are not noticeably differed from the Semi-palmated. (See July BIRDS, p.8.)

Their nests are without lining, a mere depression in the sand. The eggs
are usually four, light gray to creamy buff, finely and rather sparsely
speckled or dotted with blackish brown and purplish gray.

The female Belted Piping Plover is similar to the male, but with the
dark colors lighter and l