PLOVERS AND SANDPIPERS. 77 



alarm note may be described as a shrill ptirr, but 

 the usual call is a clear loud whit, which, during 

 the love season, is frequently uttered so quickly 

 as to form a sort of trill, as the cock bird soars and 

 flies round and round above his mate. The Ringed 

 Plover utters a very similar trill during the pairing 

 season. 



The Kentish Plover rears but one brood during 

 the summer, and preparations are made for this 

 towards the end of May. It is not improbable that 

 this Plover pairs for life, seeing that the same 

 localities are visited year by year for nesting 

 purposes. It makes no nest, the eggs being laid 

 in a little hollow amongst the coarser sand or the 

 shingle, or on a drift of dry seaweed and other 

 shore debris. The eggs are usually three, but 

 occasionally four in number, and are pale or dark 

 buff in ground colour, blotched, scratched, and 

 spotted with blackish -brown and slate -gray. As 

 is the almost invariable custom with birds breed- 

 ing on bare plains and beaches and whose eggs 

 are protectively coloured the Kentish Plover sits 

 lightly, rises from her eggs as soon as danger is 

 discovered, and evinces but little outward anxiety 

 for their safety ; although, in some instances, the 

 feigning of lameness has been resorted to, especially 

 when the eggs have been on the point of hatching. 

 The young birds and their parents form a family 

 party during the autumn, and apparently migrate 

 southwards in close company. 



