148 EIRDS OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 



from a considerable height, for although they appear slow 

 on the wing when suddenly roused from their mid-day nap, 

 they can and do fly excellently well. Notwithstanding 

 their natural shyness, they are susceptible of domestication, 

 and will live for many years in confinement, when their 

 wants are intelligently provided for. 



The food consists of insects, snails, slugs, and worms, and 

 the soft parts of various plants. All the plovers are partial 

 to the short blades of growing corn. 



Tlie gtey, as well as all the other ]ilovers, are in much 

 request for the table, their eggs, especially, being esteemed 

 so great a delicacy as at the beginning of the sea.son to 

 command no less a price than twenty-five, or even thirty 

 shillings each; so that if they would but lay in conKnemcnt, 

 it would pay well to keep a few of them. 



Ringed Plover. — This bird is also known by the names 

 of Ringed Dotteiiel and Sea Lark. Its general colour is 

 grey above, and white on the under surface of the body ; 

 that is to say, the forehead, cheeks, and a ring or band 

 round the breast, are black. The front part of the head or 

 brow, the chin, and a broad band round the upper part of 

 the neck, and all the other lower parts, are white, shading 

 to grey at the vent and lower tail coverts. The three outer 

 secondaries have a patch of white on their outer webs; the 

 bill is 3'ellow, with a black tip ; the eye, which is rather 

 large, is hazel, and the legs and feet are yellowish grey. 

 Length, 7^ inches. The female resembles the male, but the 

 black bands on the head and breast are narrower and of a 

 less intense black. 



These birds freijuent the coast pretty well all round the 

 island, to which they come in the autumn, departing, for the 

 most part, in the spring, though many couples remain in 

 suitable localities to breed. 



The eggs are deposited among stones above high -water 



