THE SxVND PLOVER 



215 



The sand plover was once comiiion in sandy bays from the 

 Oreat Barrier Island southward to Otago, but it is now very rare. 

 It never went inland. For a nest, it is content to collect a few 

 leaves of grass, bent and twisted into a circular form just large 

 enough to contain the eggs, which are protected by this flimsy 

 structure, as it keeps them together. Mr. Potts adds the following 

 interesting item: — "To the nortli-by-west of the main Chatham 

 Island lies a small group of rocky islets known as The Sisters, 

 •or Rangitutahi. One of these wave-beaten islets, rising 



Sand Plover. 



(Voji. Erebus and Terror.) 



to about 150 feet above the sea, and having an area of only about 

 five acres, affords a nesting place to the sand plover. This very 

 exposed and sheltered site is shared only by the huge albatross 

 and the Nelly, which there rest awhile from abnost ceaseless 

 wanderings over the surrounding ocean. Exposed to gales that 

 sweep over a vast unbroken expanse of sea and break against this 

 little speck of rock, the only screen that may shelter the sand 

 plover is the tussock of wiry grass or saw-edged carex, for no tree 

 is found there to furnish a kindly shelter." The eggs are three 

 in number. These birds breed in the south, and pass the winter 

 in the North Island. 



