RINGED PLOVER 231 



and shingle above high-water mark on the seashore. In some 

 cases the eggs are laid in a hollow scratched in the sand with no 

 lining of any kind, in others small fragments of cockle shells and 

 small stones are collected and imbedded, while other nests are more 

 or less substantially built, from a few dead bents carelessly arranged 

 to well-made cups in which almost any material available is utilized, 

 such as driftwood, rabbits' droppings, stems of leaves, and shore 

 plants, etc. On some beaches where there is no sand the eggs may 

 be found lying on the bare pebbles, while on the north Norfolk coast 

 they are often placed under shelter of sea heath, and nests have been 

 met with in cornfields, several miles from the sea, or on open grass- 

 land in sewage farms inland. 



Eggs. — Normally four in number, occasionally three on late lay- 

 ings, while instances of five are rare. In color they vary from stone 

 color to ocherous or clay yellow sometimes with a warm tinge, 

 spotted as a rule rather sparingly with brownish black. Occasion- 

 ally varieties with large blotches of sepia are met with and white 

 eggs have been recorded as well as bluish eggs, without markings. 

 The shell is deep green when viewed from within. The measure- 

 ments of 100 British eggs, made by the writer, averaged 35.9 by 

 25.9 millimeters; the eggs showing the four extremes measure 39 

 by 26.5, 37 by 28.5, 32.2 by 25 and 32.7 by 24 millimeters. Eggs 

 from Iceland and other northern localities are decidedly smaller. 



Young. — Incubation is shared by both sexes which relieve one 

 another at short intervals and the period is variously estimated at 

 from 22 to 25 days; probably 24 or 25 days represents the average. 

 The young are hatched within 24 hours and leave the nest as soon as 

 the down is dry. Apparently a second brood is reared in some 

 cases, but many of the late nests may be second or third lajdngs. 



Doctor Ekblaw writes : 



The old birds were wildly agitated whenever I approached, and by the 

 customary simulation of injury attempted to lead me away from the nest. 

 The fledglings ran about as soon as hatched, and like all little shorebirds were 

 quick to respond to a warning signal and sink into pebble-like immobility. The 

 weather was so cold that the old birds did not leave the young, for when the 

 brood was separated both parents sheltered some of the little ones. 



Plumages. — The plumages and molts are fully described in A 

 Practical Handbook of British Birds, edited by H. F. Witherby 

 (1920). 



Food.— InsQcts^ including Coleoptera {Aplon, Aphodius, Haliplus, 

 Hydroporus, etc.), Crustacea, especially the smaller species (Gam- 

 maridae, Amphipoda, etc.), Mollusca, chiefly small marine univalves, 

 such as Littorina, Annelida (earthworms), and vegetable matter 

 (seeds of Polygonum., etc.). 

 2316—29 16 



