CHARADRIID^E — THE PLOVERS — ^GIALITIS. 159 



This somewhat cosmopolitan species is found throughout the northern and central 

 portions of Europe, and is particularly common in Great Britain, where it occurs 

 throughout the year. It especially frequents inlets and bays, where it feeds at low 

 Avater, on the flats along the coast, at points where the ebb of the tide exposes 

 extended surfaces. This bird is also found on the banks of large rivers, and is occa- 

 sionally met Avith about the margin of inland sheets of water. As a species it is very 

 abundant, and its habits are described as lively and interesting. 



Mr. Yarrell mentions that these birds have been found breeding on the warrens of 

 Beachaniwcll and at Elvedeu, and on other warrens and heaths near Thetford in Nor- 

 folk, and in several other sandy warrens in ISTorfolk and in Suffolk, at a considerable 

 distance from the sea. They are said to pair and nest very early in the season. Mr. 

 Salmon found them sitting on their eggs as early as the 30th of March. Like all 

 the birds of this genus, the Ring Plover makes no other nest than a slight cavity in 

 the sand, in which its four eggs are laid; but it sometimes lines or covers this cavity 

 Avith a number of small stones about the size of peas, upon Avhich the eggs are laid. 

 This very peculiar habit of the species has given rise to the local name, by which 

 it is known in some of the counties of England, of Stonehatch. 



AVhen robbed of its eggs, this Plover will lay another set of four; and this it will 

 do three or four times in a season if as often despoiled. 



Others of this species deposit their eggs in any accidental depression on a bank of 

 sand, broken shells, or shingle above high-water mark. The parent birds are devoted 

 in their attachment to their young ; and Avhen disturbed resort to various devices and 

 expedients to divert attention from their eggs or nestlings. The similarity in color, 

 both of their young and of the eggs, to the surrounding objects is a great source of 

 security, rendering it difiicult to distinguish them. 



The food of the Ringed Plover consists of insects, worms, and various forms of 

 marine life, thin-shelled Crustacea, etc., with which salt-water pools abound. Their 

 note is said to be a shrill whistle. 



This species is migratory in the high northern latitudes, in which it breeds, and in 

 Avhich it is found only in the summer, or from March to October. Hewitson found 

 it throughout I^orway, and Linnaeus met Avith it in various parts of Lapland in his 

 journey, even as far north as the Lapland Alps. Scoresby, in his Journal, mentions 

 having met with this bird on the east coast of Greenland ; and other Arctic explorers 

 ha\"e observed it on the Avest coast of the same island, at Prince Regent's Inlet, and 

 at Hecla Cove. In the interior of Europe it is seen on the banks of riA'ers. Yarrell 

 states that it occurs as far south as Italy and Sicily, and also in Malta ; and specimens 

 have been received from Asia Minor. 



The eggs of this Plover measure 1.41 inches in length by 1.06 inches in breadth, 

 and are pyriform in shape ; their ground is of a pale buff or cream color, spotted and 

 streaked Avith lines and blotches of liluish-ash and black. 



^gialitis curonica. 



THE LITTLE RINGED PLOVER. 



Charadrms curonieus, Gmel. S. X. I. 1788, 692. 



u^giaUHs curonica, Gray, Cat. Brit. B. 1863, 141. — Hartixg, Handb. Brit. B. 1872, 134. 



RiDGAV. Nom. N. Am. B. 1881, no. 519. — CouES, Check List, 2d ed. 1882, no. 590. 

 Charadrius phih'ppinus, Lath. Iiid. Orn. II. 1790, 745. 

 Charadrius fluviatilis, Bechst. Nat. Viig. Deutsclil. 1809, 422. 

 Charadrius minor, Micyek & Wolf, Tasch. Viig. Deutschl. II. 1810, 324. 



