1 4 The Oolo°;isls' Record, March i, 192 1. 



Little Ringed Plover, Mgialitis curonicus {Gm.). 



I met with this Httle bird on the coasthne but I cannot give much 

 information as to its nesting habits. I had a male over me in late 

 June, and I well remember his twisting flight and twittering notes. 

 I found two forsaken nests holding two and one eg^ respectively. 

 The situation of the nests was similar to that chosen by its larger 

 relative and on a strip of shingle. The nests were similar to those 

 of the Ringed Plover, and in one I found short pieces of the stalks of 

 some marine plant. 



Kentish PmvER, Mgialitis alexandrinus (Linn.). 



Some few pairs of this species were nesting on the same ground 

 as the Little Ringed Plovers. As in the case of the former I was 

 too late for fresh eggs and the young were well on the wing. How- 

 ever, I was only a few hours at the spot so that I had no time to make 

 a full investigation. 



Hen Harrier, Circus cyaneus {Linn.). 



During the summer of 1919 I was given permission and essayed 

 a wild goose chase into the Marne district. The main feature of 

 the district in which I spent four days was a marshy valley with 

 extensive reed beds. On the uplands above one heard the cry of 

 the Stone Curlew while in the valley were to be heard the notes of 

 Rails, Grasshopper Warblers, Reed and Sedge Warblers, not to 

 mention the croaking of innumerable frogs and the chirping of 

 grasshoppers, a ceaseless hum of life day and night. The woods 

 were the home of the Buzzard, Green, Great and Lesser Spotted 

 Woodpecker, Crested Tit and many other most interesting species. 



To see, as I saw, a colony of Hen Harriers, was a sight never to 

 be forgotten. Overhead, perhaps, there would be a Buzzard ringing, 

 but the sight of all was to see as many as five Hen Harriers and four 

 Kestrels in the air at once. Once I solved the problem I had no 

 great difficulty in locating the nests and found five Hen Harriers' 

 nests, but was a trifle too early as they had not finished laying. When 

 I left on 26th May, my five nests contained respectively 4, 4, 3, 2, 2 

 eggs. The female broods a good deal during the laying period. 

 The nests were a matting of dried reeds in clearings in the dense 

 reed beds. I have successfully approached the brooding bird to 

 within five yards so as to see every detail of her appearance. Her 

 silvery blue mate keeps away on his own and does not seem to con- 

 cern himself much with nest or eggs, at least during the laying period. 



