RINGED PLOVER. 89 



early in April. By the first week in March they begin to 

 " take to " the beach, and in very mild seasons even as 

 early as February. Owing in a great measure, however, 

 to the egging system, fresh ones may be here found, in 

 plenty, up to the middle of May ; and I have seen young 

 bii'ds just hatched on the 30th of May, and eggs hard 

 set upon on the 12th of June. At Blakeney Mr. Dowell 

 notes their appearance, in their usual breeding places, 

 by the end of March, and in the first week in April he 

 has found many nests already for laying, though as yet 

 without eggs; but, from the frequent occurrence of empty 

 nests, sometimes four or five immediately around one 

 containing eggs, he believes these birds are accustomed 

 to make many nest holes before selecting one to lay in. 

 When staying at Hunstanton in 1863, I found several 

 birds sitting, on the 16th of May, whilst others, from 

 their actions, had evidently young ones; yet a female 

 that I dissected on the 19th contained one shelled egg, 

 just ready for exclusion (of a pale green colour, with 

 the usual spots), and four yelks of a bright yellow, 

 graduating in size, besides a considerable cluster of 

 un-impregnated eggs. Judging, therefore, from the state 

 of the ovaries, and the plumage of this specimen, I 

 should say that it was then about to lay for the first 

 time that season. 



So great a difference in the date of nesting in dif- 

 ferent individuals of the same species — for the birds of 

 the warren and the coast are identical — has led some 

 authors"^ to question the accuracy of Mr. Salmon's 

 statement that he had found their eggs by the 30th of 

 March, but this apparent discrepancy may, I think, 



* Mr. Harting, in his "Birds of Middlesex," shows evident 

 doubts on this point, never having found their eggs either on the 

 Sussex or Lancashire coast earher than the beginning of May, and 

 still later in Northumberland, from which he infers that the more 

 northward the breeding ground the later the period of incubation. 



