120 EGGS OF BRITISH BIRDS. 



winter. It is more numerous in Scotland and Ireland than in 

 England, and in the former country it may possibly breed. Its 

 breeding-range is supposed to extend as far north as land exists, 

 and it nests in the Arctic portion of both hemispheres. 



The nest is very slight, composed of a few bits of dry herbage 

 or withered leaves, scratched into a little hollow, which is usually 

 selected, under the shelter of a tuft of herbage, or under a broad- 

 leaved plant, or behind a bush. 



The eggs are four in number, differing considerably from those 

 of the typical Plovers, and approaching much more closely those 

 of the Sandpipers. They vary from pale olive-green of different 

 shades to pale buff in ground-colour, dashed, clouded, spotted, and 

 blotched with olive-brown and very dark brown, and with under- 

 lying markings of purplish-grey. Some specimens are boldly 

 streaked with dark brown, especially on the larger end, others 

 have most of the larger markings running in an oblique direction 

 round the surface. Some are much more richly marked than 

 others ; occasionally the markings are blurred and indistinct, 

 whilst on others they are bold and well denned. They vary in 

 leneth from 1*7 to 1'52 inch, and in breadth from 1*2 to l'l inch. 



THE LITTLE-EINGED PLOVEE. 

 (Charadrius minor.)* 



Plate 40, Fig. 2. 



The Little-ringed Plover is a very rare straggler to England, 

 and has not hitherto been detected in Scotland or Ireland. It is 

 a summer visitor to the whole of Europe north of the basin of 

 the Mediterranean, and south of about lat. 60°, between which 

 and the Arctic circle it can only be regarded as an accidental 

 straggler. It is a resident in the basin of the Mediterranean. 

 On the Asiatic continent it is a summer visitor throughout the 

 Palgearctic region, as far north as lat. 60°, and a winter visitor 

 throughout the greater part of the Oriental region. 



The eggs are seldom laid before May, often not until June. 

 It makes very slight provision for them, merely scratching a 

 little hollow in the sand or shingle, which it treads into a very 



* JEgmlitis curonicus (Gm ) — Saunders, Manual, p. 162. M. dubia (Scop,)— Sharpe, 



Handb. III., p. 162. 



