PLATE I 

 RINGED PLOVER, ^.gialitis hiaticula 



June \gth, 1893. I found this nest, after a long, weary search, on the Culbin 

 Sands, Morayshire. There were many pairs of birds about, and it was quite 

 useless sitting down to watch them to the nest as there wasn't any cover 

 for hundreds of yards round. I must have been very close to it some time 

 before I found it, as one of my footprints appears in the top of the picture 

 a little higher up the slope than the nest. 



This breeding-place was a huge waste of sand, covered with pebbles and 

 small stones scattered about, each one having innumerable little spots of 

 black moss on its upper surface. As these pebbles were mostly quite round 

 and rather the size of the Ringed Plover's eggs, the little black spots made 

 them still more like, and it was very hard to distinguish the real eggs 

 among them. The nests were all lined with little bits of broken shell, quite 

 white, and the eggs were very hard set. A great many pairs of birds were 

 nesting on this stretch of sand. I found seven nests, and there must have 

 been many more as the birds were very numerous, and their plaintive cries 

 resounded on all sides. 



It is quite surprising to see how fast these little birds will run as they 

 chase the tiny black flies which infest the sand and bents at this time of 

 year, often stopping quite suddenly and starting off in a fresh direction, always 

 carefully avoiding the larger stones as their tracks in the sand showed. 



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