PLOVERS AND SANDPIPERS. Ta 
alarm note may be described as a shrill pézrv, but 
the usual call is a clear loud wz¢, which, during 
the love season, is frequently uttered so quickly 
as to form a sort of trill, as the cock bird soars and 
flies round and round above his mate. The Ringed 
Plover utters a very similar trill during the pairing 
season. 
The Kentish Plover rears but one brood during 
the summer, and preparations are made for this 
towards the end of May. It is not improbable that 
this Plover pairs for life, seeing that the same 
localities are visited year by year for nesting 
purposes. It makes no nest, the eggs being laid 
in a little hollow amongst the coarser sand or the 
shingle, or on a drift of dry seaweed and other 
shore adébris. The eggs are usually three, but 
occasionally four in number, and are pale or dark 
buff in ground colour, blotched, scratched, and 
spotted with blackish-brown and slate-gray. As 
is the almost invariable custom with birds breed- 
ing on bare plains and beaches—and whose eggs 
are protectively coloured—the Kentish Plover sits 
lightly, rises from her eggs as soon as danger is 
discovered, and evinces but little outward anxiety 
for their safety ; although, in some instances, the 
feigning of lameness has been resorted to, especially 
when the eggs have been on the point of hatching. 
The young birds and their parents form a family 
party during the autumn, and apparently migrate 
southwards in close company. 
