544 KENTISH PLOVER. 
to be resident throughout the basin of the Mediterranean, as well as 
in the Azores, Madeira and Porto Santo, the Canaries and the 
Cape Verde Islands ; while in winter it has been found in Africa as 
far south as Cape Colony. In summer it frequents the Black, 
Caspian and Aral Seas, as well as the lakes of the Pamirs, Turkestan, 
Daiiria and Mongolia, the island of Askold, Japan and China; 
migrating in the cold weather to the Malay Peninsula, Burma and 
India, while a small number nest locally in the last. In America the 
representative is .4. ivosa, which has white—and not black—lores, 
when in breeding-plumage. 
Towards the end of May, in warm seasons, the eggs are laid ina 
small hollow in the sand, or among fine shingle and broken shells, 
often'in a nearly upright position, the points being buried and the 
thick ends just showing above the loose soil. They seldom exceed 
3 in number, though I have found 4 in Spain and also in the 
Channel Islands; they are rough in texture, and of a yellowish 
stone-colour, spotted and characteristically scrolled with black : 
measurements 1'2 by ‘9 in. Mr. H. A. Dombrain says that occa- 
sionally they are deposited on a heap of sea-weed thrown up bya 
very high tide. If disturbed when sitting, the bird will run a few 
yards, fly a little, then drop again and run, uttering a plaintive note ; 
but when the young are hatched it sweeps closely round, accompany- 
ing each stroke of the wing by a sharp whistle, and then dropping 
suddenly and cowering with expanded wings and tail.. The food is 
similar to that of the Ringed Plover: a species which is said’ to 
bully and drive from its haunts its smaller congener. 
The adult male in spring has the forehead and a broad line above 
each eye white; lores and a stripe behind the eye black; fore- 
crown black ; top of the head and nape reddish-brown; neck—all 
round—and the entire under parts, white ; on each side of the neck 
a black patch which is zo/ continued to the breast; upper parts— 
including the three central pairs of tail-feathers—hair-brown with 
darker shafts; outer tail-feathers white ; bill, legs and feet black. 
Length 6°75 in.; wing 4°25 in. The female has no black on the 
fore-crown, her neck-patches are brown instead of black, and her 
colours are less bright. The young resemble the female, while the 
downy nestlings are’ more rufous than those of the Ringed Plover. 
The illustration represents an adult male in summer, and a young 
bird in autumn plumage. 
