204 THE RlNGEt) 



neat circular depression to their mutual satisfaction, the next 

 thing the birds consider is a lining. This is almost invariably 

 composed of very small stones, although I have known seaweed, 

 dead grass, and bits of shell used. Colonel Fielden records 

 finding a nest lined with the leaves and stems of Atriplex 

 littoralis. The small stones generally used are very neatly 

 arranged in the nest, and fitted in to form a miniature tesselated 

 pavement, which the birds pack with much care and exactitude. 

 From our observations we believe that the older the bird the 

 greater the care and neatness with which the lining is fitted into 

 the nest. When the lining is completed the next thing is the 

 ornamentation of the home. The material chosen is entirely 

 governed by the taste of the bird ; sometimes the entire nest will 

 be filled with the chelae of the shore crab, bleached silvery white 

 with exposure to the weather. At another time the nest will be 

 ornamented with very small cockle shells entire, at another with 

 the edges of the valves only. Sometimes again the hinges alone 

 are chosen, and occasionally almost every conceivable kind of 

 shore debris will be used. As soon, however, as an egg is laid, 

 the ornaments which render the home conspicuous are carefully 

 removed, and the egg is left to the protection of its practical 

 invisibility. Its colour is so like that of the material on which it 

 is deposited that it often escapes the practised eye. We regret 

 to say that the insane persecution to which this little bird has 

 been subjected in Poole Harbour and the ruthless destruction of 

 its eggs has caused it to our knowledge to choose many unusual 

 sites for its nests. Amongst them we may mention that it has 

 taken to nesting on the pit-banks at nearly all the clayworks 

 near the harbour, where amongst the desolation of mound after 

 mound of rubble it is far safer than on the comparatively narrow 

 strips of shingle beach around the harbour. It has also nested 

 in the deep heather, and in the sedgebeds near the harbour. 

 On one occasion we found a nest in a depression whence turf 

 had been removed, and for some years now the bird has availed 

 itself of every ledge on the low cliffs of the various islands and 

 headlands in and around Poole Harbour. 



