74 BRITISH SEA BIRDS. 



fair sprinkling of Sanderlings and Dunlins may be 

 observed in the flocks of this species. If seriously 

 alarmed the entire flock will mount up high, and go 

 off to a distant part of the coast, or even divide into 

 several smaller ones, each retiring to a different 

 spot ; but almost invariably they return, and reform 

 into a single company on the old familiar sands, 

 within a hour or so of their scattered departure. 

 The food of this pretty little Plover consists of the 

 smaller creatures of the shore, such as minute sand- 

 worms, shrimps, sand-hoppers, tiny molluscs, and 

 insects. That this species occasionally eats vegetable 

 substances I have assured myself by repeated 

 dissection. 



Although the Ringed Plover appears only to 

 rear one brood in the year, its laying season is 

 prolonged from the middle of April to the beginning 

 of June. Early in April the winter flocks begin 

 to disband, and the birds to disperse over their 

 breeding places. Many pairs may be found breeding 

 on one large stretch of sand in a suitable district. 

 Some individuals seek an inland site for their eggs, 

 on the bank of a stream or lake, but the majority 

 prefer the sands of the sea-shore. Occasionally 

 the nest has been discovered remote from 

 water. This Plover makes no nest. The eggs 

 sometimes are laid in a hollow of the sand, but 

 just as frequently on the level surface. The fine 

 sand is always preferred to the shingle, as the eggs 

 best harmonize in appearance with it, their fine 



