162 charadkiidjE. 
obtained near Seville as early as on the 23rd of March ; but 
this is the only instance I know of their nesting so far south. 
During autumn and until April the Ring-Plover is extremely 
plentiful along the coast, and most so in the month of March. 
221. jiEoiALiTis FLUviATiLis (Bechst.). The Little Ringed 
Plover. 
This small species is not mentioned by Favier in his MS., 
although Mr. Drake includes it in his ' List of the Birds of 
Morocco.^^ I found it very common in that country on 
river-banks during the month of April. Equally abundant 
at that time on the Spanish side, the Little Ringed Plover is 
not so frequent in winter as during the breeding-season. 
They mostly arrive about the 14th of March, some passing 
on ; others remain to nest, depositing, about the 14th of 
IMay, four eggs on the sand or shingle by the sides of rivers. 
Many pairs nest on the river Barbate, near Casa Vieja, 
There is, of course, no approach to a nest ; but the eggs, 
with the small ends inwards, are placed in a small depression 
probably formed by the birds themselves in the sand or gravel. 
They also (like their larger brethren, ^gialitis hiaticula) 
often nest on open flat ground far away from water. 
In spring the eyelids are naked and golden yellow, and the 
logs are of a pale ochre-brown colour ; and although its 
smaller size is sufficient to identify the species, it may be 
always distinguished from ^. hiaticula by its having the 
shaft of the first primary only white, whereas in the Ringed 
Plover all the shafts are white. 
222. ^Egialitis cantiana (Lath.). The Kentish Plover. 
Moorish. Bou-hejaira (father of stones, T^'ayier). Spanish. 
Charran. 
" This bird is very abundant near Tangier, and generally 
found at the mouths of rivers. Many are resident, those 
which are migratory arriving during September and October, 
leaving northwards in March and April.'^ — Favier. 
The Kentish Plover is by far the most plentiful of the sea- 
shore Waders on the Spanish side ; and they are always very 
