THE SWALLOW-PLOVER 205 



sandy-grey shade of brown which, for some occult 

 reason, is known as isabelline. The short tail is white 

 with a black tip. There is a black streak through 

 the eye and a white one near the margin of the wing. 

 The abdomen is white. The legs are short for those 

 of a plover ; nevertheless, the species is very nimble 

 on its feet, and runs in the manner peculiar to the 

 peewit family. 



Swallow-plovers are to be found at a distance 

 from water, but they are essentially river birds. 



At sunset, when insects in their myriads disport 

 themselves over the surface of rivers, the swallow- 

 plovers issue forth and hawk these flying hexapods 

 just as swallows do, and, as they fly low over the face 

 of the waters, they are doubtless often mistaken for 

 swallows. 



Jerdon states that swallow-plovers live exclusively 

 on insects which they catch on the wing. I doubt 

 whether this assertion is correct. These birds cer- 

 tainly feed largely on flying insects, but as they 

 spend the major part of their time on the sand, over 

 which they run swiftly, I think that creeping things 

 constitute a not inconsiderable portion of their diet. 



Their nesting habits are similar to those of terns 

 and plovers ; that is to say, the eggs are placed on 

 the sand or bare ground without any semblance of a 

 nest. 



I make a point every year, if possible, of spending 

 a morning on a river at the beginning of the hot 

 weather looking for the nests of terns and other 

 birds which lay on churs and sandbanks. Almost 



