GRALLATORES. 147 



either the remains of small beetles and worms, or a 

 mass of semi-digested vegetable matter, sometimes 

 both, and invariably some small particles of coarse 

 sand or gravel.* 



Yarrell says that Ringed Plovers pair and go 

 to nest early in the season, and he mentions the fact 

 of Mr. Salmon having found eggs by the 30th March. 

 I may observe that only old birds are to be found 

 here in May, being then apparently on the way to 

 their breeding-grounds ; and we do not see the young 

 until the end of July or beginning of August. I have 

 found these birds breeding on the coasts of Sussex 

 and Lancashire. In Sussex, on the 9th May, a very 

 small proportion of the nests found contained eggs, 

 and in Lancashire eggs were quite fresh, and evi- 

 dently just laid, on May 31st. From the 14th to 

 the 18th May, inclusive, I have looked for the 

 eggs of this bird at a breeding station on the North- 

 umberland coast, but, although I saw several old 

 birds, I failed to discover either eggs or young. I 

 suspect that the more northward the breeding- 

 ground, the later the period of incubation. 



With regard to Mr. Yarrell's statement of Mr. 

 Salmon having found these eggs on March 30th, 

 there must, I think, be some mistake about the 



* In specimens shot at different times on the coast, I 

 have found, in addition to worms and insects, sandhoppers 

 and fragments of shell . 



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