KENTISH PLOVER 379 



watching twenty or more birds of this species feeding in 

 small mobs on Eomney Sands, which he considered to 

 be last year's birds and non-breeders. 



" The previous autumn (1901), he told me he had 

 counted forty birds in one flock, which were no doubt 

 getting together preparatory to leaving this country. 



" My companion had on the previous day (May 15, 

 1902) found a nest belonging to one of the pairs of birds 

 we had just seen. On walking towards it we saw one of 

 the old birds rise about thirty yards from us, and it wa? 

 almost immediately joined by its mate, and both birds 

 flew away quickly out of sight over a ridge. After look- 

 ing at the nest we concealed ourselves in a hollow, from 

 which we could watch the spot where the nest was. In 

 about ten minutes a single bird came back and settled on 

 the beach not much more than 10 feet from the nest. 

 After a succession of short runs, several of which were 

 made in reverse directions, it stood for a few moments 

 quite still (actually not more than 12 inches from its 

 eggs), and then, with a short, quick run, settled on them. 

 It was such a dull day that it was most difficult to dis- 

 tinguish the bird as it ran over the pebbles, and when 

 it settled on its eggs it disappeared from my sight 

 altogether. We then again walked towards the nest, 

 but I failed to detect the bird move from its eggs, and 

 only caught sight of it when it took wing about 10 feet 

 away from its nest. The nest contained three eggs, which 

 I noticed were not all with the pointed ends towards 

 the centre, and was situated on the crest of the ridge of 

 pebbles. The nest hollow was scratched out close to a 

 mossy patch of stones, and it was thickly lined with 

 short, broken pieces of rotten twigs and sticks. I think 

 this lining of the nest with vegetable matter is unusual. 



