CHAPTER LXXXIII 

 RINGED PLOVER 



IS not uncommon on the mud flats of Breydon and round 

 the coast. 



In April, as you walk by the sea, bordered by the shift- 

 ing sand-dunes, fringed with marram, fortalices that pro- 

 tect the flatland from the sea, you will come across these 

 birds feeding in the pools left by the tide on the shifting 

 shore ; and if you leave the beach and wander over to 

 wind-sculptured galleries decorated with dry marram roots, 

 you may in some cosy hollow, where the gravel lies thick 

 upon thorn-bushes, placed there to strengthen the sea-blown 

 sand, come upon the ringed plover's eggs, placed on the 

 finer stones. 



There are generally three of these eggs, and they are 

 difficult to see, even when pointed out to you by more 

 experienced eyes; but nowhere are they common in this 

 district. 



You will always, too, find a bit of sea-weed near the 

 eggs. 



Later in the year, too, when the marsh-mowers' voices 

 sound over the sandhills, you may find the stone-runner's 

 eggs, for they rear two broods in a season. 



As the sun gains power, and the bright hot days of July 

 beat down on the gleaming sandhills, you will, as you 

 wander by the marram- fringed sea, come across little flocks 



of these pretty birds flying from pool to pool feeding, calling 



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