448 



THE ZOOLOGIST. 



their ordinary appellation (' stonehatch ') the four eggs are laid, 

 with their pointed ends invariably meeting in the centre of the 

 nest."* 



As regards this habit of paving the nest, a remarkable instance 

 of adaptation to altered circumstances has lately been brought to 

 my notice by Mr. Allan Ellison, of Hillsborough, Co. Down. 

 A small colony of Kinged Plovers (he writes) resorts annually in 

 the breeding season to a rabbit-warren close to the sea at Port- 

 marnock, Co. Dublin. This warren, which is strictly preserved, 



Eggs of the Ringed Plover, JEgialitis hiaticula. From a photograph by 

 Mr. C. E. Salmon, of Eeigate. 



extends for some distance among the sand-hills, and also takes in 

 a large extent of flat barren ground, slightly raised above the sea, 

 and separated by intervening sand-hills from the shore. The soil 

 is dry and sandy, covered with short crisp grass or moss, with 

 here and there groups of stunted blackthorn or furze-bushes. All 

 over this ground, and the open spots among the sand-hills, Lap- 

 wings breed in large numbers. Kinged Plovers nest numerously 

 on the neighbouring shore, but a small colony always resorts to 



* Stevenson's * Birds of Norfolk,' vol. ii. p. 85. 



