82 BIRDS OF ICELAND 



September. It breeds in bare gravelly places, mostly 

 near the coasts, but sometimes in the very interior. 

 We found a pair, obviously breeding, at the sandy 

 end of Ejettarvatn, a tarn on the ArnarvatnsheiSi, 

 a wild interior plateau some two thousand feet above 

 the sea. 



Its nest is placed in a bare gravelly place, and lined 

 with fine gravel; the four eggs are of a light sand 

 colour spotted with black, length about 1|- inches. 

 They are difficult to see, being of exactly the same 

 colour as their surroundings. 



The bird is light brown above, white below, with a 

 broad black bar across the chest ; a narrower one passing 

 from the base of the upper mandible below the eye, 

 where it is joined by another which forms a. broad 

 black bar across the crown, and then passes through 

 the eye to the nape. Length 9 inches, wing nearly 6 

 inches. The black bars in the female are narrower 

 and browner. Young birds are much shaded with buff 

 and grey, and are decidedly smaller in size. 



[^gialitis curonica (Gmel.). 

 Lesser Ringed-Plover. 



Native name : none. 



Herra Grondal (Verzeichniss, p. 359) states that a 

 hock of the Little Ringed-Plover were seen on the 

 beach near Reykjavik on July 27, 1878, and adds that 

 the bird has been killed in company w^ith yU. liiaticula. 

 In England, where it is extremely rare, the Lesser 



