VOL. XV.] A RINGED PLOVER'S ' NESTS.' 



27 



within a foot or two of the eggs, and finally decided on a 

 change of position for the nest. About a foot from the eggs 

 he gradually lowered himself into a sitting position with a 

 curious little shake of the body, and proceeded to scrape out 

 a new nest in the soft sand with his feet (Fig. i). Then 

 returning to the eggs he began to remove them one by one 

 towards the new hollow by dragging each one in turn between 

 his chin and breast. This proved no easy task, as the Plover 

 had to shuffle his way backwards during the operation, and 

 much time was wasted by the bird repeatedly moving from 



Fig. I. Ringed Plover: The male scraping out a new nest. 

 {Photographed by T. Leslie Smith ) 



one egg to the next instead of confining his attention to one 

 until he had completed the whole journey with it. Long 

 before he had finished, the new hollow had completely dis- 

 appeared, and he was compelled to scrape it out once more 

 for the reception of the eggs. 



Although only about a foot from the original nest, this new 

 scrape was on the far side of the small branch which I had 

 placed as a wind-screen for the eggs, and it is improbable 

 that the bird would have been able to transfer the eggs from 

 one side to the other. Apparently realizing this, he scraped 

 out another hollow rather nearer the eggs and on the same 

 side of the branch as the nest, and proceeded to move the. 



