SPUB-WINGED PLOVEB. 169 



by Brisson. Mr. Taylor (Ibis, vol. i, p. 58,) says it is about the 

 commonest bird in Egypt, and very tame. I do not find it included 

 in Captain Locbe's "Catalogue of the Avifauna of Algeria." In Asia 

 we have it recorded by Canon Tristram, in his "Notes on Birds 

 Observed in Southern Palestine," (Ibis, vol. i, p. 36,) two sj)ecimens 

 having been seen on the banks of the Jordan. 



Temminck suggests the probability of the Spur-winged Plover 

 breeding in the south of Russia, but I am not aware of any nests 

 having been found there. 



The egg which I have figured was taken by Canon Tristram himself, 

 at Boulac, Egypt, who has kindly added the following remark from 

 his notes : — " I took the nest of Vanellus spinosus, in a field on 

 the hill opposite Boulac, on March 1st., 1858. The field was 

 fallow, and the four eggs laid after the manner of the Lapwings, 

 on the bare ground, in a slight depression. The bird, which had 

 not begun to sit, ran a few yards straight from her eggs, and then, 

 after the manner of the Lapwing, feigned lameness, and vociferously 

 repeated its shrill note, which is much more sharp and harsh than 

 that of our Lapwing. Finding that I continued to search about the 

 spot where I had first detected her, she took to her wings, and 

 kept tumbling over head just in front of me; and in a few minutes 

 was joined by her mate, who vehemently seconded her efforts to draw 

 me onwards. 



"The habits of this bird in every respect resemble those of its 

 English congener; but it is more easy of approach, probably from 

 being less persecuted. It is one of the most abundant birds on the 

 cultivated banks of the Nile, several pairs being found in every 

 field." 



I copy the following from Badeker: — "The nest is placed in a 

 hole in the sand, either in an island or field. It lays from three to 

 six eggs: these are one inch three lines long, and about an inch 

 broad. The ground-colour, difficult to describe, is mixed up with 

 green, grey, and yellow. This ground-colour is covered with black 

 and dark brown spots, which only at the point leave the ground- 

 colour free, while they entirely cover the thick end. The bird 

 leaves the nest at the approach of man, with shrill screams, and 

 flies, like the Lapwing, round the intruder. In some nests I found 

 damp earth in layers between the eggs, or covered with it to conceal 

 them. The young birds resemble the old ones, even in their nest 

 plumage." 



Captain Shelley has detailed the breeding habits of this species in 

 his "Birds of Egypt," p. 232; and some further remarks on the subject 



VOL. IV. z 



