OUR NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY SYMBOL 
     
    
   
   
    
     During our April meeting last year it was decided to run a contest to 
     
     choose a symbol for the Society. From entries submitted by school 
     
     children and members a sketch by Clare Martin was selected. We 
     
    

    
     are most grateful to Anne Patterson of Design Associates for the 
     
     artwork on the finished product. 
     
    
   
   
    
     The symbol illustrates three major environmental components--—sky, 
     
     land and water. Three birds are depicted during flight in the upper 
     
     part of the sketch while the centre is dominated by an oak tree, 
     
     once a dominant tree in the province. In the water, a fish swims 
     
     below the waves which may also be interpreted as reflections of the 
     
     birds. 
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
     THE PIPING PLOVER 
     
    
   
   
    
     One of the earliest of the summer visitors which flock to Atlantic 
     
     Province beaches each year is the Piping Plover. So keen is it to 
     
     get back that it barely waits for the snow and ice to leave the coast 
     
     before it can be seen along our outer shores. The first birds arrive 
     
     by mid April and soon begin the serious business of courting and esta— 
     
    
   
   
    
     blishing nesting territories. The males choose an appropriate expanse 
     
     of flat dry sand which they spend much time patrolling. While running 
     
     about in this area, they sometimes pause to nestle down onto the sand, 
     
     vigourously wallowing to form a hollowed scrape in the sand. 
     
    
   
   
    
     The males also spend long intervals simply standing on some vantage 
     
     point within their territory, perhaps choosing a small sand drift or 
     
     an old log for this purpose. If another male enters the territory, 
     
    

    
     it is immediately chased, the resident bird either chasing it in 
     
    

    
     flight or approaching the intruder at a running charge with head 
     
    

    
     down and feather ruffled. Sometimes the birds meet along a common 
     
     boundary. In this case the two frequently commence strutting up and 
     
     down the line, often stopping to face each other and bob their heads 
     
     several times. Strutting birds assume very erect postures, maximizing 
     
    
   
   
    
     the visual effect of their shiny white breasts and bellies and black 
     
     neck ring. 
     
    
   
   
    
     It is from these territories that male Piping Plovers take off on their 
     
     display flights. With deep slow wingbeats that show a flashing white 
     
     from a distance, they fly over their territories in broad sweeping 
     
     circles, uttering either a rapid series of high notes or a slower 
     
     plaintive series of calls. After a female has been successfully courted, 
     
     and the pair has mated, a clutch of four eggs is laid in a scrape