PRELIMINARY CLASSIFIED NOTES 323 



to take part in incubation, though he constantly supplies his mate with food while 

 sitting. The same observer found that a clutch was hatched out in 16 days from 

 when first found warm in the nest, one egg of which appeared to be fresh. Possibly 

 it was really infertile, as W. Evans found that an egg hatched out in an incubator 

 on the 27th day. According to Dr. F. Heatherley's observations, eggs take at 

 least 24 days to hatch under natural conditions (p. 363). Saxby's figures and 

 Naumann's (16-17 days) are no doubt erroneous. The earliest eggs are laid about 

 the second week in April in S. Scotland, and towards the end of the month in 

 the north, and may be found as late as June and early July, but probably only a 

 single brood is normally reared, as in the case of the lapwing, though three to five 

 clutches may be laid by birds whose nests have been taken. [F. c. R. J.] 



5. Food. Inland: worms, slugs, snails, insects especially beetles and their 

 larvae. On the shore : various molluscs, crustaceans, and shore worms. Vegetable 

 matter in small quantities. Stomach analyses prove that the seeds of various 

 plants are eaten, such as Polygonum and Scleranfhus (Naumann), the seeds of 

 the saline, Glaux maritima (Yarrell, iii. p. 274), berries and seeds (Dresser, Birds 

 of Europe, vii. p. 439, quoting von Droste Hiilshoff), old grass seeds (Field, 1891, 

 vol. 77, p. 449). Swallows particles of grit. The chicks feed chiefly on insects 

 and their larvae, and are assisted in the search for food by both parents, [w. F.] 



GREY-PLOVER [Squatdrola squatdrola (Linnaeus); Squatarola helvetica 

 (Linnaeus). Silver-plover. French, vanneau-pluvier ; German, Kiebitz-Regen- 

 pfeifer ; Italian, pivieressa], 



i. Description. The grey-plover may at once be distinguished, at all 

 seasons, by the black axillaries and the presence of a hind-toe. The sexes are 

 alike, and there is a striking seasonal change of coloration. (PL 1 1 9. ) Length 1 1 -5 in. 

 [280*67 mm.]. The feathers of the crown and occiput are greyish black, obscured 

 by broad white fringes ; the hind-neck is white, flecked with grey. The mantle is 

 black, broad white tips to the feathers giving a dazzling black and white barred 

 effect. The wing-coverts have the margins white, the central area of the feathers 

 black, expanding at intervals to form irregular black transverse bars, but the 

 major coverts are grey, margined with white. The primaries are brownish black 

 with white shafts, the innermost quills having a patch of white on the outer web. 

 The upper tail-coverts are white barred with black ; while the tail is white crossed 

 by numerous broad bars of black. A broad white band of white runs across the fore- 



VOL. III. 2T 



