AND NEIGHBOURHOOD. 13 



The Ringed Plover, although for the most part a 

 sea-shore loving bird, often breeds on the shingly 

 banks of inland lakes and rivers, as also on the great 

 sandy warrens of Suffolk and W. Norfolk. I found 

 a pair of these birds, in June 1853, on a high warren 

 near Winchester, but in spite of careful search could 

 not discover eggs or young birds. More or less 

 Ringed Plovers may be found on almost all low- 

 lying parts of our coast throughout the year, but 

 there is no doubt that many of our birds leave this 

 country for the south in severe weather and return 

 in the spring. The editor of the 4th edition of 

 Yarrell states that a small and more slender form of 

 this species appears in numbers on our southern 

 coasts in May, but, with few exceptions, leaves us 

 after a short stay. I had an opportunity some years 

 ago of comparing tw^o of the smaller race with some 

 of the ordinary British type at Brighton, near which 

 town they had all been obtained ; the differences of 

 " make " and size were certainly remarkable, but not, 

 in my humble opinion, sufficient to constitute two 

 separate species. 



Most of the nests of this species that I have found 

 were on a stretch of shingle at a very short distance 

 above high-water mark, on the coast of Merioneth- 

 shire, and consisted merely of a slight scratching 

 amongst the smaller pebbles, and occasionally two or 

 three bents or pieces of broken shells, by way of 

 lining ; the eggs are four in number, of a pale stone 

 ground-colour, thickly spotted with black and very 

 dark purple. As the nests above mentioned contained 

 fresh eggs in July, and very young birds, unable 

 to fly, were running and hiding in the shingle, it 

 is obvious that this species must rear more than 



