SHORTER-BILLED RUNNING BIRDS. 239 



patch at each side of the chest, but failing to meet 

 in the front ; bill and legs black. Female : lacks the 

 black strap over the crown, and the chest-j)atches 

 are ruddy-brown. Winter : the black strap on the 

 face and the black chest-patches are lacking. Summer 

 migrant. 



Eggs. — 3-4, dull yellowish stone-colour, finely 

 spotted and scrawled all over with blackish-brown ; 

 1-2 X -9 inch (plate 130). 



Nest. — Merely a hollow in sand or shingle. 



The Kentish Plover is a summer visitor, nesting 

 on the shingly beaches of Kent and Sussex, and even 

 as a migrant occurring in small numbers on tlie east 

 coast only between these points and Lincolnshire. 

 Thus, besides being a rarer bird, it is of a very limited 

 range as compared with the Ringed Plover, which in 

 other respects it closely resembles. It lays its eggs on 

 the open shingle in the same manner ; in its carriage, 

 gestures, and piping note it is indistinguishable ; it 

 has similarly pointed wings and quick flight, the same 

 runnings and tackings, the same habit of banding 

 together after the breeding season, and of circling out 

 to sea and back when disturbed ; in short, the de- 

 scription of the Ringed Plover may well stand for the 

 Kentish Plover also, and only attention to the mark- 

 iuTO of these birds can enable them to be distino^uished 

 one from the other. 



RINGED PLOVER— 7i inches. The black breast-band is 

 continuous, not broken in front as in the Kentish Plover ; 

 the bill and feet are orange, the former black-tipped, 

 whilst the bill and feet in the Kentish Plover are Idack. 

 The Ringed Plover is resident and migrant ; the Kentish 

 Plover is a summer visitor only. 



