366 THE ZOOLOGIST. 
know whether this is the rule, as in that case it would lend sup- 
port to the theory that extreme variability is a help to the birds 
in distinguishing their own eggs. 
We found the Ringed Plover very combative. Owing to a 
number of clutches hatching out simultaneously there was a 
large increase one morning in the number of chicks on the sand, 
and there were constant fights going on amongst the old birds 
for ‘spheres of influence.” The chicks in feeding took quick 
little runs just like their parents. The old birds did not seem 
to do any teaching, but just remained in their vicinity. 
In fighting, the old birds lowered their heads and raised the 
feathers of their backs. Occasionally all four would demonstrate 
in this way. One pair actually fighting seemed to have their 
beaks interlocked, and one was banging the other down on 
the sand. 
We left Cringle one day to watch if a Lesser Tern returned to 
her nest, and he reported a fight which ended in one bird return- 
ing, soon after the combat had terminated in the vanquished flying 
away, chasing two of the chicks and killing them one after another, 
shaking them as a terrier shakes a rat. The Ringed Plovers 
frequently simulated disablement to lure us from their nests. 
There were a good many Redshanks breeding in the marram- 
grass. Cringle drew our attention to the fact, of which we had 
no previous knowledge, that the sitting bird twists the grass 
together overhead as she sits on the eggs. As in the Snipe, the 
egos are laid in the middle of a clump, so that the stems form a 
hiding screen all round, but by twisting the grass into a tangle 
the eggs are also hidden from above. All the nests we saw con- 
tained four eggs lying point to point, and there were two runs, 
so that the ground plan was like the shape of a hairpin with 
slightly separated legs, and the eggs at the blunt end. The runs 
were each about two feet long, and there was a slight gap 
between the grass-stems both back and front of the eggs. 
Curiously, the two nests we worked at did not show this twisting 
of the grass; in one case the grass perhaps was not long enough, 
but in the other I think it was due to the bird, when disturbed, 
rising straight into the air instead of stealing away on foot. 
The Redshank was the most wary of all our sitters, cautiously 
approaching. her eggs long after the surrounding Common Terns 
