EINGED PLOVEE 217 



found gizzards filled with remains of small lustrous blue- 

 black beetles, the bodies of which measured 3 mm. in 

 length ; in many other cases I found the gizzards to 

 contain quantities of sand-hoppers. Fine grit is generally 

 present. 



Voice. This little bird possesses a tuneful and plaintive 

 voice. It seems to utter the syllables chu-e-chu-e, in a 

 pleading and slightly querulous tone. 



Nest. The position and construction of the nest varies 

 considerably. In some cases the eggs are deposited on 

 almost level sand or gravel, the surface being slightly 

 scraped to prevent them from rolling away. In other 

 cases more usual in my experience a definite nest is 

 attempted, the deeper and more cup-shaped hollow being 

 neatly lined with fragments of shells and pebbles (Plate 

 XIV., fig. 1). I have found the nest in short wet slob- 

 land grass thickly top-dressed with slimy green and white 

 seaweed (Plate XIV., fig. 2). Away from the tide the 

 Einged Plover nests on dry warrens, also on the pebbly 

 and sandy shores and islands of fresh-water lakes and 

 rivers. 



The eggs, four in number, are pear-shaped and large for 

 the size of the bird. The ground-colour ranges from dull 

 cream to warm stone or fawn-colour, the dark brown and 

 black markings taking as a rule the form of spots ; in some 

 instances these are largely replaced by streaks and scrolls. 1 

 The eggs are generally arranged in the nest with their 

 pointed ends meeting in the centre like those of other 

 * waders,' but eggs freshly laid, i.e., before the female has 

 commenced to incubate, may be found placed irregularly 

 (Plate XIV., fig. 2). 



Incubation begins about the middle of April, but the 

 birds arrive in March at their breeding-grounds, where they 

 may be seen flying to and fro, while the male, at repeated 

 intervals, utters his pleasing love-call. 



At the beginning of incubation the female sits lightly, 

 slipping off her eggs at the sight of an intruder two hundred 

 yards away. The male often keeps some distance off, so 



1 At Newcastle beach, co. Wicklow, I found a nest which contained 

 three half-hatched eggs (I presume the full clutch, unless one had 

 been abstracted), abnormally light in the ground-colour, more streaked 

 and scrolled than usual, more elongated in shape and larger, with the 

 narrow ends not so pointed as usual. 



