PLOVERS AND LAPWINGS 155 



is merely a platform of aquatic plants resting on the 

 water. The eggs are three to seven in number, and of 

 a pale tawny colour spotted with blackish-brown. We 

 found it breeding in some number on the Florida Lake, 

 near Johannesburg, during August. 



PLOYERS AND LAPWINGS. 



The little Three-banded Plover (Charadrius tricollaris) 

 is called the Strand-looper (Shore-runner) by the Boers, 

 and is found almost everywhere within our limits. It is 

 brown above with a white ring round the top of the head ; 

 below white, with two black bands crossing the chest. 



It may be seen on the flats alongside roads, or running 

 along the shore of a vlei or river. Its call is a sharp 

 squeak, emitted usually as the bird rises from the ground. 

 We took its eggs during the months of October and 

 November at Modderfontein. They are deposited in a 

 slight hollow amongst the mud-clots or shingle, where 

 the protective coloration of the eggs renders them diffi- 

 cult of detection. These are pale yellowish thickly 

 streaked and blotched with yellowish and dark brown, 

 and are very large for the size of the bird. The young 

 nestlings when first fledged are of a rufous tinge banded 

 with black. 



The Sand Plover (C. varius) is of a dark brown colour 

 above, the feathers having paler edges and tips ; forehead 

 white and the top of the head brown, the two divided by 

 a black band. A broad band of white runs from above 

 the eye round the back of the head, enclosing the crown, 

 and below this a black band. Under-surface white, the 

 breast being tinged with pale reddish-brown. 



This bird often congregates into small flocks, and may 

 be found on the veld sometimes far from water but 



