440 Major W. R. Thompson on the [Ibis, 



resting in a neatly rounded hollow. I was at first much 

 puzzled over' this circumstance and imagined it was a 

 method adopted by the bird to conceal its eggs ; but lat- 

 terly, and with more experience of other small objects 

 resting on this sand — some of which are still beneath it, — 

 I have inclined to the opinion that it was due to the wind 

 blowing the sand over the nest and thus tilling up the hollow 

 and almost covering the eggs. This would naturally not 

 take place when the bird was sitting. 



Eudromias morinellus. The Dotterel. 



L. has shot three — one in 181)^, one in 1900, and 

 one in 1902 — all in the early spring. He has one in his 

 collection. I saw two of these birds in the flesh, which had 

 been shot by a man in Longy Bay on the 1st of September, 

 1919. 



Vanellus vanellus. The Lapwing. 



There are usually a few about during the autumn and 

 winter months, but these are often augmented by the arrival 

 of large flocks during hard weather. 1 saw a flock of ten 

 as late as the 1st of April, 1914. I have no evidence that 

 they breed here, and have not seen them here in the 

 ■ summer. 



Haematopus ostralegus. The Oystercatcher. 



The Oystercatcher is a very common resident, breeding 

 numerously in the vicinity. I do not think its numbers are 

 appreciably, if at all, affected by migration. During the 

 ye:irs 1913 and 1914, I had frequently noticed a white 

 variety of this bird. It was usually to be seen feeding 

 among the others in the neighbourhood of Longy Bay. 

 It appeared to be almost pure white, and, at a distance, had 

 much the appearance of a Kittiwake, showing up plainly 

 against the dark background of seaweed and rock. On my 

 return to Alderney in the autumn of 1918, I again saw a 

 white Oystercatcher in the same neighbourhood. Was it, 

 I wonder, the same bird? 



The Oystercatcher usually lays three eggs, but I have on 



