148 



BIRDS OF MIDDLESEX. 



date, or else it is the exception and not tlie rule, to 

 find this bird breeding so early. Otherwise I must 

 have met with young birds at the times and places 

 above mentioned. 



The statement of the Kev. L. Jenjms* that '^ this 

 species pairs in May," is more in accordance with 

 my own experience.t 



There is something very wild and plamtive in the 

 cry of the Eing Plover, when heard by the sea-shore, 

 or across a waste of sand or shingle, which situa- 

 tions are its usual haunts. Its ordinary note is, — 



i 



— ^ ^ ^ 



In the breeding season it differs somewhat ; the first 

 note is doubled, and it is then,^ — ■ 



m 



'^aam^ -]r=^ e=^ 



^6 5>^* 



Whether we have two species of Kinged Plover 

 confounded under one name (C hiaticida) is, I think, 

 a question which deserves the attention of natural- 

 ists. I have remarked not only a great difference in 



* ' Manual of British Vertebrate Animals.' 

 f Mr. Thompson, in his ' Birds of Ireland,' has given 

 dates of the nesting of this species, as observed in various 

 locahties, and the earliest date given is " May 6th " — the 

 locality, " coast of Wexford." 



