574 THE BIRDS OF YORKSHIRE. 



although at Flamborough one or two pairs are stated to 

 be resident, and it nested north of Scalby in 1881. 



Inland it occurs almost every year, on the large reservoirs 

 and river banks, during the vernal and autumnal passages, 

 being reported from Slingsby, Malton, Goole, Ingbirchworth, 

 Swinsty and Fewston Reservoirs, Pateley, the Lower Wharfe, 

 the Nidd Valley, Ackworth, Wakefield, Sheffield, and other 

 places more or less frequently. 



From the middle of July until October migratory Ringed 

 Plovers are numerous at the Tees and Humber estuaries, while 

 even during the winter the species is one of the commonest 

 of our waders ; it also figures not infrequently in the list of 

 casualities at the Lighthouses on the coast, the victims being 

 birds on passage attracted by the fatal beams from the 

 lanterns. During the winter months the major portion of 

 our nesting birds retire further southward, and are absent 

 between October and January ; in the latter month they 

 usually begin to reassemble on the beach at the Teesmouth, 

 and I have heard their pairing notes as early as the 27th, 

 but, generally speaking, not until mid-February, and they 

 return to the nesting grounds a little later. From March 

 onwards to about the middle of May a more pronounced 

 migration, probably of individuals which have wintered 

 much further south, takes place, the small brighter-coloured 

 race being frequently met with in May ; these birds linger 

 in the estuaries for several days before resuming their journey 

 to more northerly stations. 



Nidification commences about the first week in April, 

 although " scratchings " may be seen in March, and the 

 first full clutches are generally noted by the middle of April ; 

 a nest with four eggs, and several others with incomplete 

 sets, were seen on the loth of that month, in the year 1903. 

 These early breeding birds, if undisturbed, have a second 

 clutch in June, and I have known two broods to be reared 

 from one nest in a season. The later breeders, which do not 

 nest until May, only rear one brood, but as many eggs are 

 destroyed by birds' -nesting boys, and devoured by predaceous 

 Rooks and Crows, nesting is sometimes prolonged as late as 



