122 THE GAME BIRDS AND WILD FOWL 



the reluctance of this bird to take wing, running before me 

 until absolutely compelled to rise. The alarm note of the 

 Ringed Plover is a loud shrill too-ii quickly repeated, but the 

 call-note is a rather harsh turr. During the pairing season this 

 double note is often repeated so quickly as the bird rises and 

 falls in the air as to become a not unmusical trill. The food of 

 this bird is composed principally of small sand-worms, shrimps, 

 sand-hoppers, and the inhabitants of tiny shells. It also eats 

 many insects, and I have taken the remains of vegetable sub- 

 stances from its stomach. Throughout the year the Ringed 

 Plover is decidedly social, and in autumn and winter congregates 

 into flocks of varying size. It also often associates during the 

 latter periods with Sanderlings and Dunlins. I have also re- 

 marked that during high water the flock often visits the higher 

 banks of shingle, where they remain almost stationary, until the 

 tide begins to ebb. Young and old flock together during 

 autumn and winter. 



Nidification. — Early in April the flocks of Ringed Plovers 

 begin to disband and disperse over the breeding grounds, although 

 the eggs are not laid until May or early June. Many pairs may 

 often be found breeding in one locahty. The majority of the 

 birds stick to the sandy stretches of coast during the summer, but 

 others retire to the banks of inland waters, and sometimes the 

 nest is made at a considerable distance from any water at all. 

 The nest is nothing but a little hollow in the sand, and very often 

 even that slight provision is dispensed with, and the eggs he on 

 the flat surface. They are always laid well above high-water 

 mark, and, as a rule, on the fine sand rather than on the coarser 

 shingle. Several nests may often be found quite close to each 

 other. The eggs are four in number, pale buff in ground colour, 

 spotted with blackish brown and ink-gray. The markings are 

 generally very small and evenly distributed, although sometimes 

 most numerous and largest on the big end of the egg. They 

 measure on an average i -4 inch in length by i 'o inch in breadth, 

 and are pyriform in shape, and smooth in texture. Only one 

 brood is reared in the year, but if the first clutch be removed, 

 others will be laid. I have taken the eggs of this species near the 

 end of June, other naturalists have found them as late as the 



