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 
birds 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 eges, 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, 
eraduating 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 earlier 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, 
N 
