THE RINGED PLOVER. 205 



A very large number of nests are destroyed by the exceptionally 

 high spring tides that occur quarterly. Of these tides the one 

 that comes about breeding time we generally get about the end 

 of March or the first week or so in April. The tide then makes 

 several feet higher than usual, and if there should happen to be 

 an easterly gale at the same time, the destruction is even 

 greater. The pairs that have nested early on the beaches are 

 almost certain (as happened in 1905) to have their eggs 

 swept away, and to have to commence their nesting again. The 

 birds will lay several complete clutches if their nests are taken 

 or destroyed, but it is almost impossible to say how many will be 

 laid, since the bird will sometimes sit a portion of a clutch if one 

 or two eggs are removed. 



(vi. a.} BREEDING SEASON HABITS. 



Towards the middle of March the Ringed Plovers pair. 

 Where the breeding takes place at a distance from the winter 

 resort the Ring Plover departs for the breeding place in little 

 companies, but where the breeding takes place in the area in 

 which the flock has spent the winter the pairs segregate them- 

 selves from the flock and repair to the breeding ground. We 

 may say here that in our opinion the Ring Plovers pair for 

 life, even though they go about in flocks during the winter. 

 Our reasons for this belief are as follows : It is a well-known 

 fact that every female bird lays the same type of egg each 

 successive year with slight variation within well-defined limits. 

 This is quite apart from the question of types of colouration, 

 which will be referred to under the heading of eggs. The 

 particular egg bears the mark of the individuality of the female 

 laying that egg. Now each successive clutch of eggs will bear 

 a greater likeness to the preceding clutches of eggs laid by the 

 bird than the successive children borne by a human mother. 

 This will be readily understood when it is considered that the 

 uterine mother supplies the whole external fabric and colour- 

 ation of the egg, whilst in human beings the external characters 



