KENTISH PLOVER. 269 



In Burmah it is abundant in winter; it has occurred in 

 the island of Mindanao ; and Messrs. Finsch and Hartlaub 

 record it from the Pelew Islands. In America this widely 

 ranging bird is replaced by a closely-allied species, M. 

 nivosa, which in breeding- plumage has the lores white, and 

 not black. 



The habits and food of this little Plover resemble those 

 of the Einged Plover. The female makes little or no nest ; 

 but lays her eggs in a small hollow in the sand, or amongst 

 fine shingle and broken shells. Mr. K. H. Mitford, who 

 has examined a considerable number of clutches, writes to 

 the Editor that he never found them to consist of more 

 than three, even when the eggs were incubated; and the 

 Editor's experience of the average is similar ; still he has 

 found four, both in Spain and in the Channel Islands. 

 In a clutch of four mentioned by Mr. Cecil Smith, the eggs 

 were nearly upright in the sand, the small end being buried, 

 and the thick end just shewing above the sand. They 

 are of a rather rough texture, of a yellowish stone-colour, 

 spotted and scrawled with black and measure 1*2 by '9 in. 

 Mr. Dornbrain (Zool. 1880, p. 138) says that occasionally 

 they are deposited on a heap of sea- weed thrown up by a 

 very high tide. If put off the eggs, the bird will retire to 

 a short distance, and utter a plaintive whistle, run a few 

 yards, then fly a little, then drop and run again. As soon, 

 however, as the young are hatched its manner changes : it 

 will then fly closely round, accompanying each stroke of 

 the wings by a sharp whistle, then drop suddenly, and 

 cower, with expanded wings and tail. Each pair appears 

 to frequent a limited area, and when disturbed, fly but a 

 short distance, returning quickly to their starting point. 



The adult male in summer has the beak wholly black ; 

 the irides brown ; the forehead white, the same colour being 

 continued over the eye and a little beyond it over the ear- 

 coverts ; above the white on the forehead is a patch of 

 black, which extends only to the edge of the white, not to 

 the eye-lid : top of the head and the occiput rich reddish- 

 brown ; from the base of the beak to the eye a black streak ; 



