2o2 THE RINGED PLOVER. 



(iv.) RANGE. 



(a) Outside Great Britain. The larger form occurs over 

 Western Europe, the smaller form over Europe generally, 

 exclusive of the Western part and Britain. Its northward range 

 extends to Jan Mayen and beyond Spitzbergen and to the 

 Cumberland Gulf in N. America ; possibly also Behring Strait ; 

 but Henry Seebohm suggested that the bird obtained by the 

 "Vega" expedition was in reality Charadrius placidus. East- 

 ward it ranges as far as Lake Baikal, but it rarely breeds in 

 Turkestan. Southward, on the winter migration, it spreads over 

 the whole of Africa, and even reaching the Cape of Good Hope ; 

 stragglers also reach N.W. India. The Australian record is 

 undoubtedly erroneous. (Cat. B.M., Vol. XXIV., p. 261.) 



(I)) In Great Britain. On all the coasts, and breeds every- 

 where on the beaches. It is also found on the shores of inland 

 lakes, and during migration has been known to occur on 

 commons and riverbanks very far inland. Sir William Jardine 

 records it as nesting on rabbits' warrens a considerable distance 

 from the sea. It also reaches the Orkneys, Shetlands, Hebrides, 

 and the Channel Islands. 



(c) In the County of Dorset. It breeds plentifully in Poole 

 Harbour, Studland Bay, Lodmoor (per L. R. N. Thompson), 

 and on the Chesil Beach, these being the most suitable places 

 on the coast for it. Personally, we have not met with it either 

 at Swanage, Lul worth, or Warbarrow, although some parts of 

 the beaches at these places seem to afford likely breeding haunts. 



(v.) FOOD. 



This consists of small molluscs, c'rustacea, shrimps, sand- 

 hoppers, and the like, also sea worms of various kinds. Dresser 

 gives Amphidota, Coleoptera, and Diptera in addition to the 

 above. The bird will, to our own knowledge, run eagerly to 

 catch the numerous flies to be found amongst the decaying 

 seaweed on the shore. 



