68 



British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs 



European shores, and the coast-line of Africa down to Natal. On the American 

 Continent a species is found which bears a close general resemblance to our bird ; 

 it is web-footed, however, to a much greater extent than ours (the web extending 

 to the second joint between the middle and outer toes), and so is called ^gialitis 

 semipalmatus. 



The Ringed-Plover breeds all round our coasts in suitable localities, and not 

 uncommonly on barren sandy hills in Norfolk, some distance inland. 



Colour of adult male : bill orange, tip black ; iris umber ; front of forehead 

 a patch behind the eyes, chin, throat, neck, and under parts generally, white; 

 lores (space between beak and eye), sides of face, ear-coverts, upper forehead, 

 black ; a black band round the chest, broad in front, narrow on the shoulders ; 

 crown, back, wing-coverts, and tertiary quills, hair-brown ; larger wing-coverts 

 tipped with white ; primary quills with white patches, irregular in shape and size, 

 at the base of their inner webs ; secondaries with more white still, occupying in 

 some cases most of the feathers ; tail hair-brown, almost black at the feather ends, 

 all but the middle pair tipped with white, which increases in area outwards, the 

 outer pair being entirely white ; legs and feet orange, claws black. Ivcngth ']\-']\ 

 inches, closed wing 4f-5J. The female has a brown tinge in the black parts of 

 the head, and her colours are duller generally. 



In winter both sexes lose a good deal of the black on head and breast. 

 Young birds have blackish bills and pale dirty yellow feet and legs ; duskj^-brown 

 takes the place of the black in the adults. The nestling shews indications of the 

 adult dress in the marking of its down ; the white collar and dark pectoral band 

 are clearly visible ; the under parts are dull white, the upper prettily mottled with 

 hair-brown and fawn colour, and, where the darker parts will eventually be, with 

 black. (The above taken from English specimens in my collection). 



The nest, as has been hinted, is usually near the sea, on shingly sand just 

 above high- water mark : but occasionally inland, on the pebbly shores of mountain 

 lakes or on barren sandy heaths. The nest is a mere hollow in the ground, less 

 than three inches across and not an inch deep ; there is seldom any lining, but 

 occasionally scraps of leaves are found in the nest, more often fragments of shells, 

 more commonly still small gravel of the size of pepper-corns, from which, perhaps, 

 the bird gains its name of " Stone-hatch." Eggs have been found in Thetford 

 A\'^arren as early as March 23rd, but the end of April is the general laying time. 

 I have found young birds, unable to fly, as late as August 25th, and eggs, not 

 much incubated, on July 8th, but in both those years I ascertained that there had 

 been unusually high spring tides during the breeding season, which had done 

 much damage amongst the eggs. Still the Ringed-Plover probably rears two 



