THE SWALLOW-PLOVER 209 



turbed ; the result is that the bird undergoes all manner 

 of strange contortions. We look at these and say, 

 " What a clever httle bird ! How well it is acting ! " 

 The contortions of the swallow-plover undoubtedly do 

 tend to attract the attention of predaceous creatures, 

 and are probably useful to the species when there are 

 young, for these are able to slip away while the at- 

 tention of the attacker is momentarily diverted by 

 the parent birds. Hence such behaviour must tend 

 to be perpetuated by natural selection. That it is 

 in no sense an intelligent act is obvious from the fact 

 that such behaviour occurs when there are eggs, 

 and so can do no good ; moreover, the parents will 

 go on behaving in this manner even after the intruder 

 has taken the eggs and put them in his pocket ! 



Textbooks tell us that Glareola lactca \d.ys from 

 two to four eggs. I have never found more than 

 two in a clutch, and think that Hume made a mistake 

 when he said '* from two to four," and as plagiarism 

 is very rife among writers on ornithology, other 

 ornithologists have copied his statements without 

 acknowledgment, and, of course, reproduced his 

 mistake ! 



The eggs of this species are interesting on account 

 of the extraordinary variations they exhibit. As 

 Hume well says, it is scarcely possible to find two eggs 

 (outside the same clutch) that closely resemble each 

 other. It not infrequently happens that the two eggs 

 in the same clutch differ so greatly that it is difficidt 

 to believe that they are the produce of one hen. 

 The ground colour may vary from pale green, almost 



