EGGS OF BRITISH BIRDS. 123 



Seas, and winters in Africa. It appears to prefer sandy plains 

 sparsely covered with vegetation, but when these become parched 

 for want of rain it frequents the banks of rivers or inland seas. 

 Thus it is found on the shores of the Caspian, and possibly on 

 those of the Red Sea. Its line of migration appears to be across 

 Arabia to the valley of the Upper Nile, and winters in Africa 

 south of the line. 



THE KILDEEE PLOVER. 

 (Charadrius vociferus.) * 



Plate 39, Fig. 2. 



This American species has occurred twice in England — once in 

 Hampshire and once in the Scilly Islands. It is a well-known 

 American Plover, breeding in the temperate portions of the 

 Nearctic region, and migrating south in winter to Central and 

 South America as far as Peru and Chili. 



The nest is very simple, being nothing but a hollow in the 

 ground, sometimes lined with a few scraps of herbage. 



The eggs are four in number, pale buff in ground-colour, 

 blotched and spotted with blackish - brown, and underlying 

 markings of greyish-brown. They vary in length from 1'6 to 

 145 inch, and in breadth from 11 to 105 inch. 



THE DOTTEREL. 

 {Charadrius morinellus.) t 



Plate 30, Figs. 4, 6. 



The Dotterel is principally known as a migrant to England ; 

 but a few may possibly still stay to breed on some of the most 

 secluded mountains in the Lake District. Its favourite breeding- 

 grounds in the British Islands are in the wildest parts of Scotland. 

 It breeds on the tundras above the limits of forest growth from 

 the Atlantic to the Pacific, and winters in Africa north of the 

 equator. No nest is made. 



* JEgialitis vocifera — Saunders, Manual, p. 529. Oxyechus vociferus — Sharpe, 



Handb., III., p. 155. 

 f Eudromias morinellus — Saunders, Manual, p. 521 ; Sharpe, Handb., III., p. 152. 



