NESTLESS BIRDS AND ANNEXERS 43 



provision for incubation. This I have found especially 

 frequent in the Fulmar Petrel, the Puffin, some of the 

 Gulls and the Plovers. Amongst the species that are 

 absolutely non- nest -building we may mention the 

 Tropic Birds, comprising the family Phasthontidae. 

 Some of the Vultures are practically nestless. The 

 American Black Vulture {Catharlsta atvata) is said 

 never to make the slightest attempt at a nest, not 

 even scraping a hollow, laying its eggs on the ground 

 in cane brakes, under bushes or logs, or even in more 

 exposed situations still. Then some of the birds in 

 the important group Charadriiformes are nestless, a 

 fact which is all the more remarkable when we bear 

 in mind that others in the same assemblage of 

 species are very fair if not actually elaborate nest- 

 builders, and one that incontestably proves my 

 assertion that the conditions under which the eggs 

 are incubated determine whether artificial provision 

 be made for them or not. The Ringed Plovers, for 

 example, can by no stretch of imagination be regarded 

 as nest-builders. They deposit their eggs on the 

 bare sands and shingles, often with not even the 

 semblance of a hollow to contain them. A moment's 

 reflection and we find that a nest in such a bare and 

 open situation would be an absolute danger, and 

 serve no useful purpose. It would be readily seen, 

 and the eggs can be incubated with greater safety 

 and absolute certainty without a nest of any kind. 

 The Coursers and Pratincoles both breed upon open 



