BIRDS OF THE SHORES 431 



their security entirely to the curious fidelity with 

 \yhich their colours blend with those of the broken 

 sea-shells and the yariegated stones amidst which 

 they lie. 



About the English coasts a smaller yariety of 

 the common Ringed Ployer is not unfrequently met 

 with, and these are often mistaken for the true 

 Little Ringed Ployer, a species of the rarest occur- 

 rence, of which only two or three well-authenticated 

 examples haye been recorded. 



The Kentish Ployer, too, also occurs upon the 

 mud-flats, on rare occasions, on migration. It may 

 be distinguished from the Ringed Ployer by the 

 fact that the black band is not carried completely 

 round the breast. Always an uncommon yisitant 

 to this country, its range to the north does not 

 appear to extend beyond Yorkshire. 



Two other species of coast-dwellers which are 

 essentially birds of the shingle and the rocks rather 

 than of the mud-flats, are the Turnstone and the 

 inappropriately named Oyster-catcher. 



The former is remarkable inasmuch as it belongs 

 to a genus which contains one other representative 

 only : a North American species of much darker 

 plumage. 



The Turnstone is a handsome bird, with black 

 throat and white breast, and with back and wings 

 yariegated black and rich chestnut, with a broad 

 band of white above the tail. In winter it occurs 

 in large flocks upon the English coasts, but many 

 are also met with throughout the year. It is a 

 noteworthy fact that althou^ih the Turnstone has 



