294 THE BIRDS 



Plover (JEgialitis hiaticola), the Kentish Plover (M. cantiana) 

 frequent coasts where there are wide expanses of sand and shingle, 

 and their eggs may be found in a hollow on the open ground or 

 amongst the shifty sand-dunes. The Golden Plover (Charadrius 

 pluvialis) is a bird of the marshes, and so also is the Lapwing, or 

 Peewit (Vanellus cristatus), but the latter often breeds on cultivated 

 land, and its curious cry of " pee-e-wit, pee-e-wit" and its wheeling 

 flight are familiar to most country-dwellers. Both birds take their 

 share of the incubation, and, if disturbed on the nest, will circle 

 round the intruder's head and try to lead him away from the 

 eggs or young. 



The Pigeon tribe (sub-order Columba) is divided into three 

 families : the first, Dididtz, contains the extinct Dodo and Solitaire ; 

 the second, Columbidcz, all existing Pigeons, with the exception 

 of the Tooth-billed Pigeon of Samoa, which is placed in a third 

 family, Didunculida. 



The Pigeons are all compactly built birds; the bill, which 

 may be stout or slender, curves downwards at the tip, which is 

 swollen and hardened, and the base is covered with a soft skin 

 containing the nostrils. The four toes are on the same level, and 

 many domestic pigeons have the legs and feet feathered in a greater 

 or lesser degree. With the exception of the Ground Pigeons, which 

 have short, rounded wings, the species have long, pointed wings, 

 and a strong flight ; many, indeed, traverse enormous distances 

 at an extraordinarily rapid rate. Many Pigeons are exceedingly 

 beautiful birds and very interesting in their ways. They usually 

 frequent wooded districts, and some species are to be found in 

 nearly all parts of the world. The nest is a rough platform composed 

 of a number of twigs and sticks and the male and female, who 

 pair for life, share the duties of incubation, and feed the young 

 birds, which are at first helpless and naked, with a milky fluid 

 secreted by certain glands which develop in the parents' crop 

 during the breeding season. This fluid, combined with the partially 

 digested food in the crop, is what is sometimes spoken of as 

 " pigeon's milk." Wood Pigeons feed on grain, acorns, beech- 

 mast, and the young shoots of plants, and are also fond of turnips ; 

 the Fruit Pigeons, on various fruits plucked from the trees ; Ground 

 Pigeons, chiefly on grass seeds ; while certain species eat insects 

 snails and worms, and the Nutmeg Pigeon, one of the Fruit Pigeons, 



