132 THE BIRDS OF CUMBERLAND. 



on the open portions of the estuary. It is less 

 partial to the salt marshes than the Golden 

 Plover. 



Mr. C. M. Adamson states that he has known 

 Grey Plovers to occur on the Sol way in May, " but 

 their breasts were not quite black." (More Scraps 

 about Birds, p. 145.) 



Of late years, a few old birds, wearing the black 

 breast, have appeared upon the Waver and Wam- 

 pool, in August, but only as stragglers. As already 

 remarked, the lower portion of the estuary of the 

 Waver and Warn pool constitutes the most favourite 

 ground of the Grey Plover on the English side of 

 the Solway, though the species occurs sparingly 

 along our coast, in suitable situations, throughout 

 the winter. 



Genus ^GIALITIS. 



^. Hiaticula. Ringed Plover. 



The Pinged Plover is a common resident, breeding 

 generally on the Cumbrian coastline, but nowhere 

 more numerously than at Ravenglass. The nest is 

 a slight depression in the sand, lined with bits of 

 broken shells, and four eggs are laid in May. A 

 few pairs formerly nested upon Burgh and Bockliffe 

 marshes, and nests occurred on the latter marsh 

 until about 1880, but the clutches being destroyed 

 by high tides, the birds deserted the locality as a 

 nesting-place. A few pairs nestle on gravel beds in 

 our estuary rivers, Mr. C. M. Adamson caught an 

 unfledged Ringed Plover "on the shores of the 

 Solway, in the middle of September, 1844." A 

 large immigration occurs in autumn. 



'>^ u^ 



