712 Capiain P. W. Mann on the [Ibis, 



Puerto Alcudia. The birds pair about the middle of Feb- 

 ruary, and in 1920 I found the earliest eggs on 10 April — 

 two nests with fresh eggs and one with eggs considerably 

 incubated ; but in 1921 the first nest was found on 27 

 March with fresh eggs. The eggs are always difficult to 

 find, being often half buried in the sand, with usually no 

 nest beyond a mere scrape; but nests made on the mud in 

 the marshes or on dry patches inland have generally a 

 number of small stones or pieces of dried mud arranged 

 around and beneath the eggs. In the maishes they are in- 

 variably laid on the edge of an open space beneath a tinj^ 

 stalk of samphire. On the sand the footprints of the birds 

 show the whereabouts of their nest, and generally there are 

 several " scrapes " near by, which have not been utilised for 

 laying in. Several nests were found close to Puerto Alcudia 

 on the sandy shore, where sometimes as many as fifty carts 

 were being loaded with seaweed, and immbers of nests are 

 destroyed by the traflfic. One pair of birds tried to nest on 

 a threshing-floor near the Port, but were driven away when 

 the floor was swept for use. Another pair laid their eggs on 

 the top of a low w.Jl bounding the shore. The birds are 

 seldom demonstrative when their nest is approached, the 

 hen bird usually running quietly away from her eggs. The 

 eggs vary very much, one type being very light si one-colour, 

 with small spots of black, brown, and grey. Another type 

 has a dark ground, thickly scrawled with dark black and 

 brown. Some closely resemble eggs of the Little Kinged 

 Plover. The note is a sharp " twit" or " chirrup." 

 Obtained by v. Jordans. 



201. -ffigialitis dubia. Little Ringed Plover. 



This species is evidently of very rare occurrence, for 

 during 1919 and 1920 I never came across it ; but early in 

 March 1921 a few small parties passed tlirough the district, 

 and on IG ftlarch I took a nest with three eggs— an extra- 

 ordinarily early date considering the inundated state of the 

 country — made on the dried mud of the marshes near the 

 shore, at the side of a small plant of samphire. The birds 

 had entirely disappeared the next day, but on 4 May I found 



