378 THE BIRDS OF KENT 



the Sanderling, the head heing drawn in, the body nearly 

 horizontal, and the thighs concealed among the feathers 

 of the under plumage. There is a species of spider 

 which has hitherto bafded my attempts at capture, on 

 account of the rapidity with which it travels among the 

 stones, and which is found in great abundance on the 

 beach, and as the bird is often seen running very nimbly 

 over the stones and occasionally darting its head down, 

 it may fairly be presumed that this insect constitutes a 

 good deal of its food. If the eggs are approached, but 

 not too nearly, the bird may be seen to run among the 

 grass, and every now and then raise itself on its legs and 

 stretch' its neck to see and not be seen. It possesses 

 great powers of ventriloquism. I have stood still and 

 tried for some minutes to discover one which was in an 

 entirely different place to what I had supposed from its 

 note. Their favourite place for exercising this is on 

 a moderate-sized stone, where they will stand and 

 whistle for many minutes at a time. I need not describe 

 either the bird or its eggs, as they have so often been 

 treated of." 



In Mr. T. Hepburn's notes on the birds of Dunge- 

 ness, 1902, he remarks : " The Kentish Plover, notwith- 

 standing all vicissitudes, seems to hold its own, and I 

 think I am safe in saying that there were as many birds 

 breeding on the beach in 1902 as in 1900. My fisher- 

 man friend, whose acquaintance I made on the occasion 

 of my former visits, gives me some interesting informa- 

 tion as to the numbers and distribution of this bird on 

 the beach. During a morning's walk with him we saw 

 two pairs of these birds, and he told me that he knew 

 at that time of three other pairs in different parts 

 of the beach. He also said that he had been recently 



