^UIA LITIS. 339 



Captain Beavan remarks: — " Manhhoom, March. This Plover 

 scrapes a hole in the sandy bed of a river in which it lays its eggs, 

 making no regular nest." 



Mr. F. E. Blewitt obtained the eggs on sandbanks in the 

 Mahanuddy, near Sumbulpoor, in March and April. We once 

 procured the eggs in the Ohumbul in the Etawah District in April. 

 They have been sent me from the Nerbudda, near Hoshungabad, 

 in April. This species also breeds abundantly in the Jlieliim in 

 Cashmere, and Mr. Brooks gave me several eggs taken there at 

 Islamabad on the 14th May. 



About the nidification there is little to say, it is everyvchere the 

 same — a tiny depression scraped, not far from the water's edge, in 

 sand or very fine shingle, by choice on some water-encircled bank, 

 occasionally on some unfrequented part of the river-bank itself. 

 In tills, on the bare sand or pebbles, tour eggs are laid. 



One of my correspondents writes : — " On tlie 7th February, 

 I found one nest of this species on a sandbank in the Ganges, 

 near Allahabad, on which a number of Sterna seena were also breed- 

 ing. The nest was a very shallow cup, placed on a slope of the 

 sandbank, near its centre, and close to a mass of imbedded roots. 

 The nest-hole had a very slight lining of scraps of decayed wood, and 

 was about 3 inches in diameter and 1 in depth, and contained four 



" The parent birds kept running about tamely in the neighbour- 

 hood, but uttered no sound, and did not seem at all put out by the 

 removal of their eggs. After we had removed the eggs, and had 

 retreated to a considerable distance, I watched them with binocu- 

 lars, slowly, first one, and then the other, sidle up to and inspect 

 the nest ; and after discovering the loss of the eggs, move slowly 

 away, and recommence feeding on tlie sand. 



" This was the only pair of this species that I met with during 

 the whole day." 



Messrs. Davidson and Wenden, writing of the Deccan, say of 

 this species : — " Common, and breeds from December to May." 



The eggs of this species are perfect miniatures of those of the 

 Kentish Plover. They are of the usual Plover shape — broad ovals, 

 elongated, and pointed towards one end. The shell is very fine and 

 compact, but there is scarcely any gloss. The ground-colour may 

 be described as a drab, fawn, or huffy stone-colour, or pale cafe- 

 aii-lait; but it is sometimes a pale greeni.^h grey, and the eggs are 

 thinly speckled and spotted or marked with little hieroglyphic-like 

 lines and figures of brownish purple, blackish brown, or black ; 

 while, besides these, secondary markings of a very pale inky purple, 

 which appear to underlie those first described, are scattered here 

 and there, sometimes very sparingly and sometimes pretty thickly, 

 over the whole surface of the egg. Both primary and secondary 

 markings vary a good deal in different specimens in intensity of 

 colour and in density ; but, as a rule, the markings are most nume- 

 rous towards the large end, where they at times form an imperfect 

 and irregular mottled zone or even cap. 



22* 



