Charadeiid^.] 



KENTISH PLOVER. 



^GIALITIS CANTIANA (Latham). 

 Explanation of Plate. 



Figure 1. Holstein, June 4, 1888. 

 „ 2. Ditto. June 12, 1889. 



„ 3. Hooge, Holland, June 5, 1888. 

 „ 4. Ditto. May 29, 1889. 



„ 5. Holstein, June 5, 1888. 



In collection of H. Massey, Esq. 



This species is a rare summer visitor, breeding in limited numbers on the 

 shores of Kent and Sussex. 



Mb. H. a. Dombeain gives the following interesting account of the habits of this 

 species * : — " About the middle of April the Kentish Plover arrives in this 

 country ; and, as its principal breeding-places are along the south-east and south 

 coasts of Kent, it at once repairs to these spots. Nidification, or rather propaga- 

 tion, begins soon after, depending a good deal on the season. The weather in 

 May, 1878, having been warm, the young were hatched by the end of that month ; 

 last season being as much against them as the previous one was in their favour, I 

 found eggs only half incubated by the beginning of June. The eggs, which are 

 three in number, — not four, as is usual with other species of the genus, — are 

 generally laid on the bare beach. Occasionally the bird will deposit them on a 

 heap of seaweed which has been thrown up by a very high tide. The most usual 

 place is on small pebbles through which a little grass grows. Where the eggs 

 are so deposited, it lays its first egg on the stones without any attempt at a nest, 

 but twists a few pieces of the surrounding grass amongst the pebbles, so that by 

 the time the three are deposited there is a scanty apology for a nest. If put ofi" 

 the eggs, the bird will retire to a short distance and utter a plaintive whistle, run 

 a few yards, then fly a little, and drop and run again. As soon, however, as the 

 young are hatched its manner is quite difierent ; it will then fly very close round, 



* ' Zoologist,' 1880, pp. 138, 139. 



