2 CHARADEIID^. 



Plover, a smaller race, which is migratory and widely distributed. He 

 remarks * : — " So far as I have been able to ascertain, the Ringed Plovers breeding 

 in the British Islands and Western Europe lay larger eggs than those breeding 

 elsewhere." 



The late Dr. Saxby has given the following interesting account of the 

 breeding habits of this species in Shetland f : — " The spring note is sometimes 

 heard as early as the end of January, but the birds do not return to the breeding- 

 grounds before March, when pairing immediately commences. The nest is most 

 often found upon the beach, a little above high-water mark, among sand or 

 gravel ; but most of the shores being rocky and precipitous, the sides or even the 

 very tops of the hills are frequently resorted to. So common are the nests in 

 these situations that I have found three, quite accidentally, in the course of a 

 hurried walk of less than two miles over the hills between Balta Sound and 

 Haroldswick, and I have even known of nests in the ploughed fields. The 

 favourite breeding-ground in the neighbourhood of Balta Sound is situated about 

 half a mile inland, at the foot of a range of steep hills, and with a large extent of 

 cultivated land lying between it and the sea. Nests upon the hills are invariably 

 found in the bare gravelly patches which so frequently occur among the stunted 

 grass and heather, a preference being shown to the vicinity of water, even though 

 the quantity be barely sufficient to glisten in the sunshine. A perfect nest 

 consists of a saucer-shaped hollow scraped in the ground, lined vnth small stones, 

 which are sometimes so thickly piled round the sides that the eggs are found 

 standing almost perpendicularly upon their small ends ; upon the beach, broken 

 shells are often substituted for or mixed with the stones. Like the Oyster-catcher, 

 the Kinged Plover Avill frequently make more nests than it requires for use, and 

 three or four may sometimes be found within a few yards of a sitting bird. 

 Occasionally, the presence of a large stone or a root at the bottom of one of these 

 hollows shows sufficient cause for abandonment, but it often happens that these 

 barren nests are carefully lined and finished. The cavity of a perfect nest 

 measures from four inches and a half to five inches across, according to its depth, 

 the deepest being of course also the widest. A few years ago, near the spot 

 above mentioned, about half a dozen pairs occupied a piece of ground of about 

 four hundred yards in length by as many in breadth. One winter, a number of 

 men commenced digging out and removing the numerous scattered stones, leaving 

 the ground much cut up and full of small holes. Upon the return of the breediug- 



* ' History of British Birds,' vol. iii. p. 20. 

 t ' Birds of Shetland,' pp. 164-16G. 



