you "will observe in the case before you they too correspond to the 

 colours of the surroundings. Tlic habits of the young are the 

 same as in the last species, they hide themselves amongst the 

 stones by lying flat down vrhen they hear anyone approaching, 

 which they very readily do, as you cannot walk upon the beach 

 without making a crunching noise at every footstep you take. 

 This, again, is another great protection to these birds, as before 

 you step on to the shingle you perhaps cannot see a bird in the air, 

 but as soon a« you begin walking on their ground you suddenly 

 see several pairs wheeling around you and making their peculiar 

 pinging cry which seems their note of alarm, as it is taken up by 

 all that arc on the wing. The food of this species is much the 

 same as that of the last. They also seem to hover over the ground 

 and drop their food near the young, but possibly this may be only 

 when they are disturbed, as I found several small Sand-eels near 

 them, and upon one occasion I saw the old bird drop one and 

 I found the young one close by. The young also separate them- 

 selves during the day. This bird breeds in suitable places as far 

 as Cornwall. In Ireland it nests in many places, though seldom 

 in large numbers. As a rule it leaves us in September or early in 

 October, although I have had a stray example in the latter part of 

 November. Saunders says that this bird seldom occurs in the 

 Northern part of the Baltic, but is abundant on the Southern shore 

 of that sea, and follows the course of the large rivers for so great 

 a distance, nesting on their Islands and Sandbanks, that it extends 

 across the Continent to the Mediterranean, Elack, and Caspian 

 seas ; while it also frequents the Atlantic coast. It breeds in 

 lower Egypt and in winter descends to the West side of Africa, to 

 Cape Colony, and along the Asian plateau it can be traced to 

 Central India. 



The next bird that attracted my attention was that pretty 

 little bird called the Einged Plover, known also by the name of 

 the Ringed Dotterel, and I was very much pleased to meet with 

 it on its breeding ground. I found it very interesting to watch 

 this species, but very difficult to find its so-called nest, which iu 

 fact is no nest at all, being only a slight depression made in the 

 fine shingle, for it breeds on the same ground as the Lesser Tern. 

 It lays four eggs, pear-shaped and of a stone buff colour, spotted 

 with black, and nearly resembling the eggs of the Lesser Tern. 

 I had great difficulty in finding these, as the bird uses all its arts 

 in the first place to divert you from the spot by flying and running 

 away from it, but should you continue on the spot where you first 

 started the bird in a few minutes it will return and approach 

 nearer and nearer to you, then go away again as if intent on 

 feeding, but no doubt each time it has satisfied itself that the eggs 

 are still safe. Now comes the question which of us will first tire 

 out with watching, and ten to one the bird beats you, for lying in 



