74 BRITISH SEABIRDS. 
fair sprinkling of Sanderlings and Dunlins may be 
observed in the flocks of this species. If seriously 
alarmed the entire flock will mount up high, and go 
off to a distant part of the coast, or even divide into 
several smaller ones, each retiring to a different 
spot; but almost invariably they return, and reform 
into a single company on the old familiar sands, 
within a hour or so of their scattered departure. 
The food of this pretty little Plover consists of the 
smaller creatures of the shore, such as minute sand- 
worms, shrimps, sand-hoppers, tiny molluscs, and 
insects. That this species occasionally eats vegetable 
substances I have assured myself by repeated 
dissection. 
Although the Ringed Plover appears only to 
rear one brood in the year, its laying season is 
prolonged from the middle of April to the beginning 
of June. Early in April the winter flocks begin 
to disband, and the birds to disperse over their 
breeding places. Many pairs may be found breeding 
on one large stretch of sand in a suitable district. 
Some individuals seek an inland site for their eggs, 
on the bank of a stream or lake, but the majority 
prefer the sands of the sea-shore. Occasionally 
the nest has been discovered remote from 
water. This Plover makes no nest. The eggs 
sometimes are laid in a hollow of the sand, but 
just as frequently on the level surface. The fine 
sand is always preferred to the shingle, as the eggs 
best harmonize in appearance with it, their fine 
