The Zoologist — November, 1874. 4213 



other instance, he has exercised observing powers of no common 

 kind. 



" The nest is most often found upon the beach, a httle above high-water 

 mark, among sand or gravel; but most of the sliores being rocky and 

 precipitous, the sides or even the very tops of the hills are frequently 

 resorted to. So common are the nests in these situations that I have found 

 three, quite accidentally, in the course of a hurried walk of less than two 

 miles over the hills between Balta Sound and Haroldswick, and I have even 

 known of nests in the ploughed fields. The favourite breeding-ground in 

 the neighbourhood of Balta Sound is situated about half a mile inland, at 

 the foot of a range of steep hills, and with a large extent of cultivated land 

 lying between it and the sea. Nests upon the hills are invariably found in 

 the bare gravelly patches which so frequently occur among the stunted grass 

 and heather, a preference being shown to the vicinity of water, even though 

 the quantity be barely sufficient to glisten in the sunshine. A perfect nest 

 consists of a saucer-shaped hollow scraped in the ground, hned with small 

 stones, which are sometimes so thickly piled round the sides that the eggs 

 are found standing almost perpendicularly upon their small ends. Upon the 

 beach, broken shells are often substituted for or mixed with the stones. 

 Like the oystercatcher, the ringed plover will frequently make more nests 

 than it requires for use, and three or four may sometimes be found within a 

 few yards of a sitting bird. Occasionally the presence of a large stone or a 

 root at the bottom of one of these hollows shows sufficient cause for abandon- 

 ment, but it often happens that these barren nests are carefully lined and 

 finished. The cavity of a perfect nest measures from four inches and a half 

 to five inches across, according to its depth, the deepest being of course also 

 the widest. A few years ago, near the spot above mentioned, about half-a- 

 dozen pairs occupied a piece of ground of about four hundred yards in length 

 by as many in breadth. One winter a number of men commenced digging out 

 and removing the numerous scattered stones, leaving the ground much cut 

 up and full of small holes. Upon the return of the breeding season, the little 

 colony, instead of being scared completely away, merely shifted about three 

 hundred yards southwards, a position which it still continues to occupy. In 

 the spring of 1859 I found a solitary nest near Swina Ness, and watched it 

 until the four young birds were hatched, when the nest was deserted for the 

 remainder of the year. The same thing happened the next spring ; and even 

 the next to that, after which I never saw the birds near the spot again ; 

 thus I became acquainted with two important facts in the history of this 

 species, — first, that it will return annually to the same nest ; and secondly, 

 that it is single-brooded, although fresh eggs are to be found from the middle 

 of April to the beginning of July. The sitting bird usually runs from the 

 nest instead of taking wing, but no one seems to have clearly made out 



SECOND SEUIES — VOL. IX. 3 G 



