^EGIALITIS CHRONICA. 955 



at some little distance from it ; and I have never seen more than half a dozen in the same locality. On the 

 rifle-range at Trincomalie, "which was a favourite resort in the November and December rains, it consorted 

 -with a few Lesser Sand-Plovers which were generally to be found in that place ; and I have now and then 

 seen a solitary individual or a pair associating, but not in close fellowship, with two or three Kentish Plovers 

 on open places near tidal flats or land-locked harbours ; but it is more often seen unaccompanied by other 

 species, and much more frequently near fresh water than brackish. In countries where there are large rivers 

 it frequents their banks, if they be flat and sandy or composed of pebbly reaches, in preference to any other 

 places. It is not shy in its disposition, and when flushed generally takes a short flight and realights. It may 

 always be known in Ceylon from the Kentish Plover by its stature, which is greater than that of the latter ; 

 but more particularly by its plaintive monosyllabic whistle, which may be likened to peei,peei, which is uttered 

 generally when it takes flight and occasionally as it runs along on the ground. This note may perhaps 

 consist of a double intonation ; but the two syllables sound like one drawn out. Naumann, according to 

 Mr. Dresser, likens it to did, uttered very short, so that the two vowels are almost united. The same author 

 says that " the pairing-note or song begins slowly and is closed with a peculiar trill like the syllables duh, dii, 

 dull, lull, liillullUU. This note is only heard at the breeding-place, and is more frequently uttered by the male, 

 more seldom by the female, when seated as well as when on the wing, but most frequently when performing 

 the aerial evolutions in which the bird so frequently indulges during the pairing-season." 



Nidification. — The Lesser Ringed Plover breeds freely in the northern parts of India as well as in 

 Turkestan and Central Asia. Its nest has been found in the Etawah district, on the Mahanadi, in the Deccan 

 {Burgess and Davidson), in Manbhum, at Nerbudda, at Islamabad, and on the Jhelum in Cashmir between the 

 month of March and the middle of May. Mr. Hume describes the nest as " a tiny depression scraped, not 

 far from the water's edge, in sand or very fine shingle, by choice on some water-encircled bank, occasionally 

 on some unfrequented part of the river-bank itself. In this, on the bare sand or pebbles, four eggs are laid." 

 He observes that the eggs are imitations of the Kentish Plover's, broad ovals, pointed towards one end, of a 

 " drab fawn- or buff stone-colour," and sometimes of a pale greenish grey, thinly speckled or marked with little 

 hieroglyphic-like lines and figures of brownish purple, blackish brown, or black, beneath which are underlying 

 markings of pale inky purple. They vary in length from PI to P23 inch, and in breadth from 0'8 to 087. 



Concerning its nidification in Europe, we gather from Mr. Dresser's great work that "it nests in places 

 where there is pebbly ground, like those selected by JEgialitis hiaticula, and not in localities where there is 

 sand without a strong admixture of small stones. The nest is a mere depression in the ground amongst the 

 stones ; and the eggs, which are deposited about the middle of May, are four in number, and are, like those 

 of other Waders, placed with the point inwards." Mr. Robson informs Mr. Dresser that " they have many 

 breeding-places on the coast of the Black Sea, both on the European and Asiatic sea-board, in situations 

 where valleys debouch towards the ocean, their wide fronts covered with sand and pebbles, with shallow 

 streams of fresh water trickling over a narrow surface towards the beach. In natural cavities in the shingle 

 these birds lay their eggs ; and in shallow streams near the sea they find their food, water-beetles and the larvae 

 of insects that come down from the mountains in numerous small streams that unite as they near the coast. 

 .... On its eggs being approached by man it steals off a short distance, curves its head and tail downwards, 

 and runs in irregular lines, much like a small animal, to decoy the intruder away from its eggs, which result 

 being accomplished, it rises into the air, making a distant whirl, uttering its piping cry, and, gradually lessen- 

 ing the circuit of its flight, alights on the sands and waits a favourable opportunity for returning to its eggs." 



A series which I have examined from European localities, in Mr. Dresser's collection, procured in Hungary 

 and South-eastern Europe, are stone-grey, stone-yellow, and some pale brownish clay-colour, marked with 

 small spots and streaky marks of blackish sepia and brown over specks of light lilac or bluish grey ; the 

 colouring is pretty evenly though very openly distributed over the eggs, and the linear marks are not so large 

 or so numerous as on those of the Kentish Plover. In some the secondary markings take a linear form. 

 They measure P23 by 087 inch, P15 by 0'73, 1-13 by 08I. They are broad pointed ovals in shape. 



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