PLOVERS AND SANDPIPERS. eS 
‘markings becoming more conspicuous on the coarser 
surface. The bird sits lightly: indeed it is most 
exceptional to see one rise from its eggs, unless 
the spot had been previously marked. When 
disturbed, the birds exhibit but little outward 
manifestation of alarm. They may be seen running 
to and fro about the sand, but their behaviour is 
very different from that of the Lesser Terns, which 
often nest on the same sands. The eggs of the 
Ringed Plover are always four in number, very 
pyriform in shape, and invariably laid with the 
pointed ends turned inwards. They are large in 
proportion to the bird, and pale buff or stone colour 
sparingly spotted and speckled with blackish-brown 
and ink-gray. During May and June a smaller 
and darker race of Ringed Plover passes along 
our coasts, to breed further north; appearing on 
the return journey during August, September, and 
October. There is some evidence to suggest that 
this race breeds sparingly on the coasts of Kent 
and Sussex. 
KENTISH PLOVER. 
This species, the gzalitis cantzana of ornitho- 
—logists, is one of the most local of British birds. 
Stragglers have been obtained here and there along 
the coast line between Yorkshire and Cornwall, 
but its only known nesting places are on certain 
parts of the coasts of Kent and Sussex. It is 
now nearly a century ago since this Plover was 
first made known to science by Lewin, who figured 
