SHORTER-BILLED RUNNING BIRDS. 239 



patch at each side of the chest, but failing to meet 

 in the front ; bill and legs black. ■Female : lacks the 

 black strap over the crown, and the chest-patches 

 are ruddy-brown. Winter : the black strap on the 

 face and the black chest-patches are lacking. Summer 

 migi-ant. 



Eggs. — 3-4, dull yellowish stone-colour, finely 

 spotted and scrawled all over with blackish-brown ; 

 1-2 X -9 inch (plate 130). 



Nest. — Merely a hollow in sand or shingle. 



The Kentish Plover is a summfer visitor, nesting 

 on the shingly beaches of Kent and Sussex, and even 

 as a migrant occurring in small numbers on the east 

 coast only between these points and Lincolnshire. 

 Thus, besides being a rarer bird, it is of a very limited 

 range as compared with the Kinged Plover, which in 

 other respects it closely resembles. It lays its eggs on 

 the open shingle in the same manner ; in its carriage, 

 gestures, and piping note it is indistinguishable ; it 

 has similarly pointed wings and quick flight, the same 

 runnings and tackings, the same- habit of banding 

 together after the breeding season, and of circling out 

 to sea and back when disturbed; in short, the de- 

 scription of the Ringed Plover may well stand for the 

 Kentish Plover also, and only attention to the mark- 

 ings of these birds can enable them to be distinguished 

 one from the other. 



RINGED PLOVEB— 7i inches. The black bieast-hand is 

 continnons, not broken in front as in the Kentish Plover ; 

 the bill and feet are orange, the former black-tipped, 

 •whilst the bill and feet in the Kentish Plover are black. 

 The Ringed Plover is resident and migrant ; the Kentish 

 Plover is a summer visitor only. 



