130 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



that directly the nestling is free the old Plover must fly off with 

 both pieces of egg-shell, and drop them at a safe distance where 

 they cannot betray her. The domestic economy of this pretty 

 little shore-bird deserves some study, and I should have liked to 

 renew my visit on a warmer day. 



It is clear that the young Ringed Plovers are not hatched 

 quite simultaneously ; it is also evident that when hatched their 

 legs develop so rapidly that three or four hours suffice to give 

 them strength enough to run. Most likely they return to the 

 nest at night, and are sheltered under the warmth of the parents' 

 breast ; otherwise one hardly sees the necessity for such speedy 

 removal of the egg-shells. Most of the nest-holes here are lined 

 with broken cockle-shells, of which there are plenty in Norfolk, 

 and while three exquisitely spotted eggs point inward, the fourth 

 is generally pointed sideway. I measured many of the nest de- 

 pressions with a rule ; some are larger than others, but the 

 average circumference is fifteen inches, and the average diameter 

 four inches. The above were typical nests, and neither on this 

 nor on any other occasion have I found one constructed of bents 

 of grass, as described and figured by Mr. Kelso. 



A photograph by Mr. H. E. Harris, though not taken in Nor- 

 folk, so admirably represents a Ringed Plover on her eggs, that 

 I am tempted, with his permission, to reproduce it (Plate III.). 



11th. — Sheld-Dack. — The increase of that handsome fowl 

 the Sheld-Duck in the Lynn and Hunstanton district is exceed- 

 ingly satisfactory, and is principally due to their being protected 

 by the King's orders on Dersingham Heath, and on other parts of 

 his shooting, where they breed in considerable numbers. At a 

 distance their white forms on the heather and bracken-clad slopes 

 look almost like sheep, and strangers passing in the train must 

 have often wondered what sort of birds they could be. There is 

 no change whatever in their plumage at the breeding season — no 

 eclipse of beauty as in most drakes — but the colours are duller. 

 They are brightest in January and February, and until the end 

 of March, by which time the beak of the drake has reached its 

 height of brilliancy, and the tubercle is more than twice its 

 former size, and a great deal of courtship goes on. 



Every morning and evening, Mr. Cresswell tells me, numbers 

 come down to the Wash, and even in the middle of the day, when 



