321 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII. 
difficulties as we approached, When we reached the sand-hill, to our 
disappointment we could find no trace of a nest. Yet the birds, some 
hundreds of them, seemed greatly disturbed and kept flying round calling 
loudly to their mates. While the flock was at some little distance, solitary 
birds suddenly began to start up in the most unaccountable manner as the 
little vegetation covering the sand-hill was far too low and scanty to have 
hidden these white birds from view. We then found that they came from 
holes in the ground. The mouths of these holes were, for the most part, 
hidden under the overhanging and spreading vegetation, which looked like 
heather, but was of course not heather. This part of the sand-hill presented the 
appearance of a rabbit warren, and was tunnelled all over with holes about 
seven or eight inches in diameter, which extended horizontally about six or 
eight feet, The holes which were on the top of the sand-hill went down 
vertically one or two feet, then turned at right angles in a horizontal direction. 
The roof of these tunnels was formed by the matted seaweed covered with sand 
and low-spreading vegetation. Underneath this matted seaweed the sand had 
been scraped out by the birds. I think these holes must be used from year to 
year, and only need a little cleaning out at the mouth or perhaps digging out 
a few inches past the last year’s nest, for some were much longer than others. 
Moreover, the holes were not large enough for the birds to stand up in, so that 
the excavation must be a work of time, and I think it quite impossible that the 
time occupied in one breeding season should suffice for this labour of love. 
Although the sand under the matted seaweed is easily scooped out, we must, 
I think, consider the absence of excavated sand outside the holes as seen ~ 
outside crab holes or even rabbit burrows. The birds have long straight 
legs like waders, which must either be bent close up to the body while 
the birds are at work tunnelling, or be stretched straight out behind 
as they are during flight. The tunnelling in that case must be done with the 
beak and wings alone, the legs being of no use whatever. This Ido not 
think at all probable considering the horizontal length of the holes. We 
did not open one less than four feet in length, and some went to six or 
eight feet, and always in a straight line. Some of these tunnels entered the 
hill from the sea-face side, but by far the larger number from the top or 
from the landward side and at every conceivable angle. In many cases the 
tunnels crossed each other, but they never curved except when the hole was on 
the top of the hill,and then only close to the entrance from a vertical to a 
horizontal direction. At the end of each tunnel one egg was found, which 
appeared to me far too large for the size of the bird, and had it not been for 
Captain Shopland’s knowledge of the habits of this bird and my having seen 
the birds fly out from the hole, I should not have believed the egg could have 
belonged to this bird. I should not have searched so far under the sand-hill 
for a bird’s nest at all, more especially for that of a long-legged bird like the 
érab-plover. Captain Shopland shot one of the birds tomake sure of its 
