10 



one position, witli your head perhaps oyer a bank, and a strong 

 cold wind blowing through you, tires your patience ; you go away 

 and the bird immediately goes to its eggs. If you try again, 

 having marked the spot by the actions of the bird, and if you 

 think of coming upon it suddenly and seeing where it rises from, 

 it seems to have got off its nest before you have sighted it and is 

 carrying on its old tactics, so that it is more a matter of chance 

 than skill if you find the nest. The young of these also lie down 

 flat as soon as disturbed, and being much smaller than Terns are 

 even more difficult to find. 



Throughout the British Islands the Ringed Plover is generally 

 distributed along the flat portions of our coast, as well as on 

 sandy warrens and inland lakes at some distance from the sea, 

 while on migration it is also found on the banks of rivers. The 

 birds which are more or less resident here and on the opposite 

 shores of France and Holland, as well as those which arrive from 

 tie North in A-utumn, are larger, more biiUet headed, and duller 

 in the colour of the mantle, than those which come from the South 

 in the Spring and leave us after a short stay, though a few may 

 remain to breed in Kent and Sussex. 



The Kentish Plover (^gialitis cantiana) is easily recognizable 

 by its incomplete pectoral band. It arrives on the shores of 

 England in April and departs in September. It owes its name to 

 its first discovery on the shingle beaches of Kent, but of late years 

 it has become very scarce, a clutch of eggs being found only 

 occasionally. I was not fortunate enough to find any. Its habits 

 are similar to those oE the Ringed Plover, and it breeds in the 

 same locality. 



Another bird which breeds in the same locality is the 

 Redshank (Totanus calidris). I saw only about four pairs of 

 this species. When the nest is approached they are very noisy, 

 and practise many artifices to allure tbe intruder from the 

 neighbourhood. I spent the best part of a day in trying to 

 find their nest, but as they were evidently in a swampy portion 

 of the ground with plenty of rushes growing, and about a foot of 

 water, I was unable to reach them for the want of a pair of 

 sea-boots. Later in the day I found one nest, with four eggs, 

 built in a dry spot upon a dwarf Blackthorn, in fact the Black- 

 thorn there is all dwarf, not reaching more than a foot or so in 

 height from the ground. This must be attributed to the cold wind 

 that is always blowing over it, so that it spreads out upon the 

 beach almost like a creeping plant. This bird, though a migrant, 

 may frequently, during open winters, be found in England 

 throughout the year, especially in the South and "West. The 

 eggs are pear-shaped, and very much like the Lapwing's ; in fact 



