470 The Water-fowl Family 



" Eggs of British Birds." A bird was found sit- 

 ting on a nest containing only four beer-bottle 

 corks on May 26, and though the nest was fre- 

 quently visited and the corks thrown out, they 

 were found invariably again in the nest and the 

 bird on them up to July 26. 



LITTLE RING PLOVER 



{jEgialitis dubia) 



Adult male and female Similar in plumage to the semipalmated 

 plover, JE. semipalmata, but the white on the primaries is con- 

 fined to the shaft, and a white bar borders posteriorly the black 

 band on crown ; bill, entirely black ; legs and feet, dull yellow. 



Measurements Length, 6 inches; wing, 4.50 inches; tail, 2.50 

 inches; culmen, .50 inch; tarsus, I inch. 



Eggs Four ; pale buff, finely spotted with dark brown and gray ; 

 measure 1.20 by .90 inches. 



Habitat Breeds from southern Europe, central Asia, and Japan 

 north to latitude 60 in Siberia and Europe, excepting Great 

 Britain and Ireland. Winters in northern and central Africa, 

 India, and south to the Malay Archipelago. Has been recorded 

 from Great Britain, Alaska, and California. 



A European species straggling to the coast of 

 Alaska and California, and hence listed among 

 the North American birds. 



In its breeding habits and eggs, this bird closely 

 resembles our piping plover, and, like that species, 

 is seldom found on its eggs during the day. 

 For its summer home it prefers the sandy shores 

 of large rivers and lakes to those of the ocean. 

 In the mating season the male soars in the air 



