130 THE GAME BIEDS AND WILD FOWL 



aspect to its old-world allies should make examination of the feet of all Ringed 

 Plovers killed on our coasts imperative, as it is more than probable that the 

 Semipalmated Plover occasionally visits the British Islands, especially in autumn. 



Habits. —The most usual haunts of the Greater Einged Plover are the 

 sandy coasts, although exceptionally it frequents, especially during the breeding 

 season, the shores of some inland lakes, as well as warrens and dunes at some 

 considerable distance from the sea. It is, however, a bird of the sand and 

 a bird of the coast. It is especially attached to the low coasts, not the mud- 

 flats, but the long broad reaches of sand and shingle, and to these haunts it keeps 

 throughout the year. This active little bird is incessantly in motion, but, pro- 

 vided due care be exercised, will admit of a sufficiently close approach to observe 

 its every action with ease. It runs with great speed across the wet sands just 

 out of the reach of the waves, picking here and picking there, now pausing a 

 moment, then darting forward to probe into the soft brown sand in quest of prey. 

 It follows the retreating waves, and searches the wet foam-flecked sand, and 

 again runs shorewards as each succeeding wave breaks upon the beach. It 

 is most attached to its feeding grounds ; and in autumn and winter, when the 

 birds have taken up their residence on some particular stretch of sand, they 

 may be fired at repeatedly, always flying out to sea for a little way, and 

 returning inshore to another part of the sand. As they fly in a more or less 

 compact bunch a chorus of double notes is uttered, and the moment they alight 

 they begin searching for food as if they had never been disturbed. Sometimes 

 in inland localities this bird may be seen running along the tops of walls, or even 

 on weirs and sluices. The flight of this Plover is rapid, and performed by quick 

 and regular beats of the wings. It usually flies along at no great distance from 

 the ground or water, but when seriously alarmed often mounts up to a good 

 height. Sometimes a flock will perform various graceful evolutions in the air, 

 turning and twisting with as much precision as though moved by a common 

 impulse. When just about to alight, the wings are frequently held stiff and 

 arched, the bird skims along for a little way, and often the pinions are held 

 open for a short time after it has alighted. I have often marked the reluctance 

 of this bird to take wing, as it ran before me until absolutely compelled to rise. 

 The alarm note of the Einged Plover is a loud shrill too-it, quickly repeated, but 

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

 as the bird rises and falls in the air is often repeated so quickly as to become a 

 not unmusical trill. This bird feeds principally upon 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 substances from its stomach. Throughout 

 the year the Einged Plover is decidedly social, and in autumn and winter congregates 

 into flocks of varying size. It frequently associates during the latter periods with 

 Sanderlings and Dunlins, and I have also remarked that during high water the flock 



