388 CHARADRID^. 



employed in the important business of incubation, and 

 the males are too attentive to their mates to engage in pic- 

 nics on the sands. The nest is a simple hollow in the 

 sand, above high- water mark, or on the shingly beach; 

 and here the female lays four large, pointed eggs, which 

 are arranged in the nest with all the small ends together. 

 The young are able to run as soon as they break the shell ; 

 but, having no power of flight for a long time, avoid 

 impending danger by scattering and hiding among the 

 stones. The old bird, on such occasions, uses her wings ; 

 but not to desert her charge. She flies up to the intruder, 

 and, like other members of the same family, endeavours to 

 entice him away by counterfeiting lameness or some injury. 



The Ringed Plover sometimes goes inland to rear her 

 young, and lays her eggs in a sandy warren, on the bank 

 of a river or the margin of a lake ; but when the young 

 are able to fly, old and young together repair to the sea- 

 shore, collecting in flocks, and for the most part continuing 

 to congregate until the following spring. Their flight is 

 rapid and sweeping, consisting of a succession of curves, 

 while performing which they show sometimes their upper 

 grey plumage, and at other times the under, which is of a 

 dazzling white. Occasionally, too, as they wheel from one 

 tack to another, every bird is lost sight of, owing to the 

 perfect unanimity with which, at the same instant, they 

 alter their course, and to the incapacity of the human eye 

 to follow the rapid change from a dark hue to a light. 



Not unfrequently one falls in with a solitary individual 

 which has been left behind by its companions, or has 

 strayed from the flock. Such a bird, when disturbed, 

 utters its whistle more frequently than on ordinary occa- 

 sions, and, as its note is not difficult of imitation, I have 

 often enticed a stray bird to fly close up to me, answering 

 all the while. But it has rarely happened that I have 

 succeeded in practising the deception on the same bird a 

 second time. 



