i68 LOST AND VANISHING BIRDS 



our coast-line, although the bird is fairly common 

 in the Channel Islands. The present rarity of the 

 Kentish Plover is entirely due to the greed of 

 collectors, and it seems to us a monstrous thing 

 that such is the case. If some means are not 

 quickly devised for its protection, nothing can 

 save the Kentish Plover from absolute extinction 

 in the British Islands. The bird only requires 

 protection during the breeding season, from April 

 onwards, and we would make it illegal to shoot 

 Kentish Plovers until the beginning of October, 

 instead of the first of August, by which date the 

 poor harassed birds would have retired south to 

 their winter centres. The taking of the eggs 

 should also be made illegal. No species more 

 urgently needs protection. 



The Kentish Plover is a summer migrant to the 

 beaches of Western Europe, from France north- 

 wards to the south of Sweden. It is a resident on 

 the coasts of the Iberian Peninsula, the Azores, 

 Canaries, and Madeira, and along both sides of the 

 Mediterranean. Eastwards, we find it frequenting 

 the marshes on the South Russian Steppes, the 

 beaches of the Black, Caspian, and Aral Seas, and 

 those of the salt lakes in Turkestan, Dauria, and 

 Mongolia. The winter range includes the coasts of 



