CHARADRIIDA. 539 
Sees 
THE RINGED PLOVER. 
AEciaLftis HIaTfcoLa (Linnzus). 
This bird is sometimes called the Ringed Dotterel—a name to be 
deprecated as having led to confusion with the true Dotterel, while 
locally it is known as ‘‘Stone-hatch” or “Sand-lark.” Through- 
out the British Islands the Ringed Plover is generally distributed 
along the flat portions of the coast, as well as on sandy warrens and 
inland lakes at some distance from the sea, and on migration it is 
also found by the banks of rivers. The birds which are more or 
less resident here and on the opposite shores of France and 
Holland, as well as those which arrive from the north in autumn, 
are larger, more bullet-headed, and duller in the colour of the 
mantle than those which come from the south in spring ; but these 
leave us after a short stay, though a few, perhaps, remain to breed in 
Kent and Sussex. Many individuals of this smaller race have been 
erroneously recorded as examples of the next species. 
In summer the Ringed Plover occurs in Iceland, and it has been 
found on Jan Mayen, and even on the Seven Islands (lat. 80° 45’N.), 
as well as on Spitsbergen. It has also been obtained up to 79° in 
