INLAND BREEDING OF THE RINGED PLOVER. 503 



as far inland as Brandon ; Wangford and Lakenheath being on its 

 shores. They likewise thought that an arm of the Wash extended 

 along the valley of the Little Ouse to Thetford, and that conse- 

 quently the present breeding-places of the Einged Plover were 

 coast sands in the post-glacial epoch. And year by year hereditary 

 instinct has brought the warren-haunting Plovers inland, which led 

 the first President of the Norfolk and Norwich Naturalists' Society 

 to hazard the opinion in 1879 that with the death of the last of the 

 heath-loving Plovers would cease altogether the inland appearance 

 of that species. If the diminution in numbers of the Ringed 

 Plover be not general amongst the shore birds, it would tend to 

 further substantiate this opinion. In addition to the Ringed 

 Plover, numerous species of plants and insects peculiar to the 

 sand-dunes of the coast are found upon these inland heaths.* 

 The place-names of the district strengthen the theory that the 

 Wash formerly extended as far as Brandon. It is extremely sug- 

 gestive to note that the sandy heath at Elveden whereon the Ringed 

 Plovers breed is still known as the " denes." This is the name 

 applied on the Norfolk coast to the low sand-hills, and is 

 synonymous with " dune." Although on the slope of a valley up 

 which an arm of the Wash might at one time have possibly 

 extended, the nearest stream is now more than a mile distant. 

 The other breeding-places mentioned in the district would all 

 have bordered upon an arm of the sea extending up the Little 

 Ouse valley, except those on Roudham and Wretham Heaths ; 

 but neither of these would be more than four miles from the 

 nesting-place on Santon Downham Heath. With so many other 

 heaths and warrens in the district, it seems strange that their 

 range should be so limited. In addition to the coast insects and 

 plants found in these inland localities, Helix virgata and other 

 species usually considered littoral abound. 



J. D. Salmon, F.L.S., recorded the date of their first arrival 

 as February 16th, 1834; February 5th, 1835; February 15th, 

 1836 ; and February 14th, 1837. They have, however, been seen 



* Vide paper "On Certain Coast Insects found extending inland at 

 Brandon, Suffolk." By G. C. Barrett, Trans, of the Norf. and Nor. Nat. 

 Soc., vol. i., 1870, p. 61, and 1871, p. 40. Also notes in the same Trans- 

 actions on coast-plants found inland by Messrs. H. D. Geldart and Clement 

 Reid, F.G.S. 



