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Birds. 9283 
plover had been breeding in the neighbourhood, for a friend of mine interested in 
Ornithology had found a nest containing a single egg when trying to get a shot at the 
parent bird. The stomach contained several wing-cases of beetles and a few fibrous roots 
of some grass, mixed up with flinty gravel.— W. W. Boulton; Beverley, July 8, 1864. 
The Little Ringed Plover at Kingsbury, Middlesex. 
By J. Epmunp Hartine, Esq., F.Z.S. 
You will be interested to-hear of the occurrence of the little ringed 
plover (Charadrius minor). 
I am not aware that this rare species has been met with anywhere 
in England since Mr. E. H. Rodd recorded the capture of a specimen 
last autumn at Scilly. 
On the 30th of August last I was strolling round the water here, 
with my gun, on the look-out for ringed plovers, dunlin, and other 
waders that usually visit us at this time of year, when I observed a 
small bird feeding on the shore, within a few yards of a green sand- 
piper. The latter was very wild, and rose out of shot; but the former 
remained feeding, and allowed me to approach within fifty yards. I 
at first mistook it for a young ringed plover (C. hiaticula), never dream- 
ing of Charadrius minor. As soon as it rose, my finger was on the 
trigger ; but hearing the bird’s note, which was not at all like that of 
the ringed plover, but rather like that of the common sandpiper, I was 
induced to wait and mark the bird down, in order to observe it more 
carefully. As it flew away I remarked no white line across the wings, 
and this strengthened my belief that it was not the common ringed 
plover. Watching it until it again alighted, about a hundred yards 
distant, I crawled along on hands and knees, and obtained a good 
view of the bird as it ran along the edge of the water, occasionally 
stopping to pick up some food. In its flight and note it appeared 
rather to resemble the sandpipers, but its actions when on the ground 
were much like those of the ringed plover. It did not associate, how- 
ever, with the last-named species, although there was a little flock of 
them also at the water. After watching it for some time, I put it up 
again and shot it. 
On picking it up there could be no doubt of the species—a veritable 
little ringed plover, although evidently a young bird. 
More slender in form than the common ringed plover, the legs are 
lighter in colour, and the bill almost black. I say “almost” black, 
because in the living bird the base of the under mandible is decidedly 
