544 KENTISH PLOVER. 



to be resident throughout the basin of the Mediterranean, as well as 

 in the Azores, Madeira and Porto Santo, the Canaries and the 

 Cape Verde Islands ; while in winter it has been found in Africa as 

 far south as Cape Colony. In summer it frequents the Black, 

 Caspian and Aral Seas, as well as the lakes of the Pamirs, Turkestan, 

 Daiaria and Mongolia, the island of Askold, Japan and China ; 

 migrating in the cold weather to the Malay Peninsula, Burma and 

 India, while a small number nest locally in the last. In America the 

 representative is ^. nivosa, which has white — and not black — lores, 

 when in breeding-plumage. 



Towards the end of May, in warm seasons, the eggs are laid in a 

 small hollow in the sand, or among fine shingle and broken shells, 

 often in a nearly upright position, the points being buried and the 

 thick ends just showing above the loose soil. They seldom exceed 

 3 in number, though I have found 4 in Spain and also in the 

 Channel Islands ; they are rough in texture, and of a yellowish 

 stone-colour, spotted and characteristically scrolled with black : 

 measurements i'2 by "9 in. Mr. H. A. Dombrain says that occa- 

 sionally they are deposited on a heap of sea-weed thrown up by a 

 very high tide. If disturbed when sitting, the bird will run a few 

 yards, fly a little, then drop again and run, uttering a plaintive note ; 

 but when the young are hatched it sweeps closely round, accompany- 

 ing each stroke of the wing by a sharp whistle, and then dropping 

 suddenly and cowering with expanded wings and tail. The food is 

 similar to that of the Ringed Plover : a species which is said to 

 bully and drive from its haunts its smaller congener. 



The adult male in spring has the forehead and a broad line above 

 each eye white ; lores and a stripe behind the eye black ; fore- 

 crown black ; top of the head and nape reddish-brown ; neck — all 

 round — and the entire under parts, white ; on each side of the neck 

 a black patch which is not continued to the breast ; upper parts — 

 including the three central pairs of tail-feathers — hair-brown with 

 darker shafts ; outer tail-feathers white ; bill, legs and feet black. 

 Length 6'75 in. ; wing 4*25 in. The female has no black on the 

 fore-crown, her neck-patches are brown instead of black, and her 

 colours are less bright. The young resemble the female, while the 

 downy nestlings are more rufous than those of the Ringed Plover. 

 The illustration represents an adult male in summer, and a young 

 bird in autumn plumage. 



