210 BRITISH BIRDS' NESTS. 



PLOVER, RINGED. Also KINGED DOTTEKEL. 



Description of Parent Birds. Length about seven 

 and three -quarter inches. Beak short, straight, 

 black at the tip, and rich, dark yellow towards 

 the base. Irides brown. Forehead wiiite, middle 

 of crown black, followed by greyish-brown, which 

 extends down the back of the neck ; back and 

 wings greyish-brown, except the ends of the 

 coverts, which are tipped with white, and the 

 primaries, which are dusky, with some white at 

 the base and along the shafts. Upper tail-coverts 

 greyish-brown ; quills greyish-black in the centre, 

 outside feathers white. A black patch commences 

 at the gape and passes under the eye, backward and 

 downward, to the side of the neck. A broadish 

 collar of white passes round the upper part of 

 the neck, followed by a gorget of black, which is 

 deepest in front. Breast and all the under-parts 

 white. Legs and toes orange ; claws black. 



In the female the black parts of the head and 

 neck are not so broad or well defined. 



Situation and Locality. On the plain surface 

 or in a slight hollow, scraped in the sand or shingle 

 above high water-mark on stretches of flat, sandy 

 shores, also in shallow crevices of bare, flat sea- 

 shore rocks ; sometimes quite inland on the banks 

 of rivers and lakes in nearly all suitable places 

 throughout the British Isles. Our illustration was 

 procured near to Bamborough Castle. 



Materials. None generally, but sometimes a 

 lining of small pebbles ; and in places where a 

 crevice in a flat rock has been adopted I have 

 often met with a lining of small sea shells. 



Eggs. Four, pear-shaped, pale buff, cream, or 



