THE KENTISH SAND PLOVER 171 



however, captured several nestlings by resting my 

 head on the shingle, when the little creatures 

 become distinctly visible against the sky-line, as 

 they run along with wonderful swiftness for such 

 tiny objects. I could never bring myself to kill 

 any of these fluffy little balls of down, with their 

 great dark eyes and abnormally long legs-; and 

 later in the autumn I have been rewarded by 

 seeing flocks of Kentish Sand Plovers feeding on 

 the green herbage which skirts the harbours after 

 the tide has receded. I once saw, from behind my 

 shelter of a mud-bank, more than forty of these 

 pretty birds feeding on the green moss near Romney 

 Hoy, and a more interesting sight can scarcely be 

 imagined." As will be seen from the foregoing 

 particulars, the Kentish Plover becomes gregarious 

 in autumn, as so many other kindred species do. 

 This Plover rears but one brood in the summer, 

 and the migration south begins in August and 

 continues into September. 



The adult male Kentish Sand Plover has the 

 forehead and eyebrow white; the lores and a 

 broad streak behind the eye black ; another black 

 patch separates the white on the forehead from 

 the buff" of the top of the head and the nape ; the 

 remainder of the upper parts, including the six 



