PLOVERS AND SANDPIPERS. 75 



markings becoming more conspicuous on the coarser 

 surface. The bird sits lightly : indeed it is most 

 exceptional to see one rise from its eggs, unless 

 the spot had been previously marked. When 

 disturbed, the birds exhibit but little outward 

 manifestation of alarm. They may be seen running 

 to and fro about the sand, but their behaviour is 

 very different from that of the Lesser Terns, which 

 often nest on the same sands. The eggs of the 

 Ringed Plover are always four in number, very 

 pyriform in shape, and invariably laid with the 

 pointed ends turned inwards. They are large in 

 proportion to the bird, and pale buff or stone colour 

 sparingly spotted and speckled with blackish-brown 

 and ink-gray. During May and June a smaller 

 and darker race of Ringed Plover passes along 

 our coasts, to breed further north ; appearing on 

 the return journey during August, September, and 

 October. There is some evidence to suggest that 

 this race breeds sparingly on the coasts of Kent 

 and Sussex. 



KENTISH PLOVER. 



This species, the sEgialitis cantiana of ornitho- 

 logists, is one of the most local of British birds. 

 Stragglers have been obtained here and there along 

 the coast line between Yorkshire and Cornwall, 

 but its only known nesting places are on certain 

 parts of the coasts of Kent and Sussex. It is 

 now nearly a century ago since this Plover was 

 first made known to science by Lewin, who figured 



