RINGED PLOVER. 205 



RINGED PLOVER. 



jS^giaUtis hiaticula. 



This is commou all along the coast of tlie county, and may 

 be considered resident^ though partially migratory in spring 

 and autumn. It is most numerous about the mouths of 

 rivers and the muddy tlats of the estuaries and harbours, 

 though it may occasionally, though rarely, be met Avith on 

 the sides of the larger inland ponds. I have seen it two or 

 three times at the lake in Knepp Park, and in one instance 

 an example was shot on the side of a small pond at King^s 

 Farm, in the parish of Cowfold. It has been met with at 

 the large mill-pond at Warnham, and is common by the 

 tidal ditches in Pevensey Level. In the breeding-season it 

 resorts to the large expanses of beach, especially those at 

 Rye and Shoreham, and lays its eggs, without a nest, in 

 small depressions among the shingle, where both they and 

 their young are, from their similarity to the pebbles around, 

 exceedingly difficult to discover without a dog. Mr. Booth, 

 however, found a well-formed circular nest near Rye, most 

 elaborately constructed, a hole having been scraped out in 

 the fresh green turf, in which was arranged a copious lining 

 of small white shells, which must have been transported from 

 the shingle bank, between a quarter and half a mile distant. 

 The Ringed Plover is strongly attached to its young, and 

 when they are in danger will feign lameness, and flutter 

 about to entice away the intruder. When wounded it will 

 swim and dive well. The note is a loud trisyllabic whistle, 

 generally uttered on the wing. In the winter it associates 

 in considerable flocks. 



There is a small variety, or race, which arrives in May, and 

 has the mantle much darker than that of the normal Ringed 



