COMMON RING-PLOVER. 121 



the sand or mud with quickly-repeated tappings of its bill, 

 as is the habit of the birds just mentioned ; but on the edge 

 of the sea, when the tide is rising or retiring, it is in more 

 constant motion than when on an exposed place. Unless 

 much molested, they are not generally shy ; but in the 

 neighbourhood of towns, where they are liable to be fre- 

 quently shot at, they are seldom disposed to allow a person 

 to approach very near. On the sands they are easily per- 

 ceived, but among pebbles it is very difficult to distinguish 

 them, insomuch that one may see them flying off from places 

 around him in which he had not suspected any of being. 

 On rising, and while on wing, they now and then emit their 

 very mellow and pleasant note. Their flight is rapid, even, 

 performed by regularly-timed beats, and they glide along, 

 often at a very small height, or ascend, and perform various 

 evolutions before alighting, sometimes all the individuals in 

 a flock inclining to one side, so as to expose now their upper 

 and again their lower surface to the spectator. Frequently 

 when feeding they intermix with Sandpipers, Turnstones, 

 Hedshanks, and other species ; but in flying they generally 

 keep apart. At high water they repose on the sands or on 

 the pastures, usually in a crouching posture. They are 

 partly nocturnal, and I have often found them searching for 

 food by moonlight. As the autumn advances, they collect 

 into larger flocks, and at the mouths of rivers may often be 

 seen in very numerous bands. During winter and the 

 greater part of spring they continue along the sea-shore, 

 none being then found by the rivers or lakes. 



Toward the beginning of April, the flocks break up into 

 smaller parties, and by the middle of that month the birds 

 have paired. As the constant residence of many of them is 

 the sea-shore, and the sands or pastures in its immediate 

 vicinity, they have no preparations to make, nor long journeys 

 to perform, before they commence the absorbing occupations 

 connected with rearing their families. Just above the tide- 

 mark, either in the sand, or among the gravel or pebbles, they 

 scrape a slight hollow, which they often line with fragments 

 of shells, and in which are deposited the four eggs, placed 

 with their small ends together. They are pyriform, with the 



