RINGED PLOVER. 



CHARADRIUS HIATICULA. 



Family CHARADRIID^. Genus CHARADRIUS. 



Ringed Dotterel Shell Turner Wideawake Stone- 

 runner Stonehatch. 



The Ringed Plover is one of the commonest of our 

 coast birds, and perhaps, if we except the Dunlin, with 

 which species it is frequently found in company, is the 

 most numerous of all. It is a resident bird in the 

 British Isles, its numbers being increased in the autumn 

 by migrations. It is most commonly found on the 

 sandy coast, but is also found less numerously some 

 distance inland on the sand banks and flats of our 

 large rivers and lakes. 



The Ringed Plover is a handsome little bird. Grey 

 is the colour of the upper parts and white of the under 

 parts ; there is a white ring round the neck, bordered 

 with two narrow black rings above and below which 

 broaden out around the eyes and on the breast. 



It is shy and wary, and when its nest is approached 

 will run some little distance along the ground before 



