460 CLASS AVES. 



The Ringed Plover (Charadrius Hiaticula) moults twice 

 a year. It nestles on sandy shores, or in meadows neighbour- 

 ing to the sea. It lays from three to five eggs, of a yellowish- 

 olive colour, marked with black lines. This species feeds on 

 marine insects and small earthworms. It inhabits the whole 

 of Europe, and is equally common in Holland, in France, in 

 Germany, and in Italy. It frequents all the coasts of this 

 kingdom, and, though scarce in winter, it probably never quits 

 us altogether. It is also found in North America, and is not 

 distinguished there by any peculiarity from the ringed 

 plover in our climates. 



The ringed plover has been indicated as inhabiting many 

 other places, such as the Philippines, the Antilles, the Ma- 

 louine Islands, &c. ; but it seems more than probable that 

 under this collective name many distinct species have been 

 confounded. 



Though the species of the plovers are very numerous, we 

 do not find any thing further of sufficient interest to induce 

 us to dwell upon them any longer here. 



Our figure under the name of a variety of the Collared 

 Plover, the Jamaicensis of Gm., and the Noisy Plover of the 

 text, is from a specimen brought to Europe by the Rev. Mr. 

 Hennah, from South America, now in the British Museum. 

 The top and hind part of the head, the cheeks from the base 

 of the upper mandible, the back and smaller wing-coverts, 

 and tail, are reddish-brown of different degrees of intensity ; 

 the forehead, breast, belly, vent, thighs, tip of the tail-feathers, 

 and of the larger wing-coverts, a band across the wing, and a 

 broad collar from the chin round the throat, are white ; 

 beneath the white is another still broader, of black ; and 

 below that, on the upper part of the breast, are several small 

 black and white undulations. 



Brisson first distinguished and established the genus of the 

 Lapwing, though, subsequently to his time, the birds com- 



