126 EGGS OF BRITISH BIRDS. 



THE GREY PLOVER. 

 (Charadrius helveticus.)* 



Plate 39, Figs. 7, 9. 



The Grey Plover is a circumpolar bird, but has only been 

 known to breed on the tundras above the limit of forest-growth. 

 It appears to be very local in its distribution during the breeding- 

 season. It is not known with certainty to breed anywhere except 

 on Kolguev Island, in the valley of the lower Petchora, on the 

 Taimur Peninsula in the extreme north of Siberia, in Alaska, on 

 the banks of the Anderson River, and on Melville Peninsula. 



To discover the eggs of the Grey Plover was one of the chief 

 reasons for the expedition to the Petchora made by Mr. Harvie- 

 Brown and myself, and we were fortunate in finding several 

 nests, which were rounded and somewhat deep hollows in the 

 turf, containing a handful of broken slender twigs and reindeer 

 moss. 



The eggs of the Grey Plover are four in number, intermediate 

 in colour between those of the Golden Plover and the Lapwing, 

 and subject to variation, some being much browner and others 

 more olive, none quite as olive as the typical Lapwing's eggs or 

 as buff as typical ones of the Golden Plover, but the blotching 

 is in every respect the same ; the underlying spots are equally 

 indistinct, the surface-spots are generally big, especially at the 

 large end, but occasionally very small and scattered, and some- 

 times taking the form of thin streaks. They vary in length from 

 22 to 1"9 inch, and in breadth from 1/4 to 1" 35 inch. 



THE LAPWING. 



(Vanellus cristatus.)] 



Plate 40, Figs. 7, 9. 



The Lapwing or Peewit is the commonest and best known of 

 the Plovers found in the British Islands. It is generally dis- 

 tributed through Great Britain and Ireland, breeding in every 

 county. It is a semi-Arctic species, ranging during the breeding- 



* Squatarola helvetica — Saunders, Manual, p. 535; Sharpe, Handb., III., p. 138. 

 f Vanellus cristatus (Bechst.)— Saunders, Manual, p. 539. V. vanellus (L.)— Sharpe, 



Handb., III., p. 170. 



