RINGED PLOVER 215 
When not molested by the gunner, it is a tame little 
creature. It may be seen alighting along the edge of the 
shore a few paces from where an observer is ‘standing, 
when it will run for a few yards, then suddenly stop 
and peer around with its large black limpid eyes. Now 
remaining quite motionless, its pretty form and plumage 
may be compared to an ornament placed upon the sombre 
erey sands. 
So httle heedful is this Plover of the presence of man 
that 1t will venture on the crowded beaches of fashionable 
watering-places, usually desolate of bird-life. Here, in the 
presence of all sorts of noisy holiday-makers, with donkeys 
galloping about, dogs yelping, and children screaming, a 
little family-party of five or six Ringed Plovers may be seen 
searching for food by the edge of the falling tide (Plate 
XIII.). It is pleasant to spend some time watching the 
movements of these nimble birds, at their favourite feeding- 
erounds; a hillock or sand-dune will form an excellent 
ambush. August and September are the best months for 
this purpose, as then great numbers of migrants, many of 
them immature and remarkably tame, are scattered over the 
strand. 
April, May, and early June are also good months in which 
to make observations. In these months I have seen our 
shores thickly studded with Ringed Plover, mostly migrants 
passing northward to breed. On watching this little wader, 
attention is at once arrested by the beautiful black and white 
markings, which in the form of two collars adorn its neck. 
Next, interest is aroused by the movements of this species 
as it runs actively and noiselessly along the sands, half 
mouse-like, half bird-like, its feet moving so rapidly that 
the motions cannot be followed. But the movements of 
the Ringed Plover are characteristic of the group to which 
it belongs. It takes about a dozen short steps forwards, 
then suddenly halts, perhaps picks up a minute worm, and 
proceeds again for another dozen paces, then another halt, 
and in this way the movements are repeated as a considerable 
area of strand is traversed. 
At a distance or on a dark day, when its plumage- 
markings are not very clear, this species can be identified 
among a flock of other small wading-birds by its peculiar 
run. Dunlins and Sanderlings, with which it often asso- 
ciates, scamper about incessantly and in a most irregular 
way. 
