220 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



watching several Ringed Plovers that were running about on the 

 pebbles, and by a piece of good luck I happened to concentrate 

 my attention on a bird that was the possessor of a nest and eggs. 

 After a short interval all the birds except the one I was watching 

 flew away. After it had been left alone about ten minutes it 

 started running over the shingle, going along for short distances, 

 and stopping a moment or two after each run ; when it had gone 

 thirty or forty feet all in one direction, it turned and went back 

 in almost the same direction as it had come, taking some fairly 

 long runs without stopping ; then, with a short run of about 

 twelve inches, it settled on its eggs, only its head and neck being 

 visible to the observer. When I rose from the pebbles and 

 walked towards it, I had not walked many paces before I saw it 

 crawl (it is the only word to properly describe its stealthy move- 

 ment) off its eggs, and run as hard as it could over the ridge, only 

 to be visible again when it took wing. After a short search I 

 found the four eggs in the nest hollow. I watched the same bird 

 on and off its eggs several times, and found that it invariably 

 returned to its eggs by a devious course, and when disturbed it 

 always ran a few feet before taking flight. Sometimes the eggs 

 were all with the small ends pointing to the centre, at others they 

 were lying in irregular positions. This seems to tend to prove 

 that the sitting bird makes a point of arranging its eggs with the 

 points to the centre, but that occasionally when leaving the nest 

 hurriedly it disturbs their position. 



The same day (May 10th) I caught some nestlings of this 

 species. My impression is that the nestlings, lying close on the 

 beach as they do, are far more difficult to perceive than the eggs. 

 In this instance I saw two old birds with three young ones 

 through my glasses at some distance from where I was lying on 

 the beach. Keeping my eye on one of the young ones as well as 

 I could, I walked towards it. It started running away at first, 

 but, when it found I was overtaking it, it squatted. On coming 

 up to the spot I was unable to distinguish it, so lay down on the 

 beach to see if I could catch sight of it moving against the sky- 

 line, but without success. I was just moving to get up and go 

 away when I caught sight of it straight in front of me, and not 

 eighteen inches from my face. It was lying in the typical posi- 

 tion which these young Plovers always seem to take when they 



