SOCIABLE PLOVEE. 3 



collect together before separating in pairs, and hold a sort of pairing-competition. 

 The females being stationed as spectators round some bare patch of ground, the 

 males rush forth in twos and threes, and engage in somewhat fierce combat, pulling 

 at each other's little head-feathers with their beaks, springing almost a yard from 

 the ground, dealing blows with beaks, wings and feet, and uttering continually their 

 rasping cries. Becoming exhausted, they retire with ruffled feathers, follow one 

 another in a circle, and then recommence the fray. During this proceeding first 

 one female and then another rises and begins to fly about the steppe, each being 

 pursued by two to five males. After a short flight she sinks to the ground, 

 followed by the males. The latter recommence the combat, till one of them 

 remains the victor and pairs with the female, while the other males return to the 

 fighting-ground. In this manner the birds gradually pair off, the competition 

 ceases, and the period of nesting operations begins. The female chooses a small 

 tuft of heather, under which she scratches a small hole, and lines it Avith dry 

 grass. Here she lays four or five eggs, closely resembling those of the Lapwing. 

 The male bird remains near the nest and shares the duties of incubation. The 

 young are hatched out in two and a half to three weeks after the last egg has been 

 deposited. Laying takes place from the middle of May onwards. The young 

 broods, led by their parents, wander about over the steppe, feeding on cicadce and 

 coleoptera, and often join with broods of Pratincoles, with whom they live 

 amicably, and make common cause against an approaching enemy. Zarudny, 

 describing the assaults of the Sociable Plover, says : ' They descry a man from 

 afar, and use every means to lead him away. Flying low over the ground, with 

 rapidly beating wings, they dash at him one after the other, uttering their 

 broken, grating cries in measure with their wing-beats. When Avithin a 

 few feet of his face, they glance upwards with wonderful velocity, then with 

 rapidly vibrating wings they turn round and swooping towards the ground in 

 a semicircle, they dash furiously again at the intruder. This was their usual 

 behaviour, as only in comparatively rare cases will the Sociable Plover attack a 

 man from behind.' 



" When the young are able to fiy, the birds collect in immense flocks, each 

 of some hundreds, and begin to lead a nomadic life, continually changing their 

 feeding-grounds. 



" When flying from one part of the steppe to another, these Plovers often rise 

 to an immense height. When their hunger is satisfied, they repair to the water 

 to drink, and here, like the Pratincoles, they spend some hours during the hottest 

 part of the day. When the steppe is devoid of water, a flock will sometimes rest 



2 p2 



