THE CASPIAN PLOVER 



When nesting, the birds frequent the neighbourhood of salt-lakes and lay three 



e gg s > which are in ground-colour ochreous, blotched and spotted with blackish- 

 brown, in a slight hollow in the ground. 



THE RINGED PLOVER. 



AZgialitis hiaticola (Linnaeus). 

 Plate 62. 



The Ringed Plover or Ringed Dotterel is very plentiful on stretches of sand and 

 shingle along the coasts of the British Islands, and in the breeding season it also 

 frequents the margins of many inland lakes and rivers, the sandy warrens of 

 Norfolk, and other localities suited to its habits. Two forms of this species have 

 been recognised, one rather larger and duller in colour, resident in our islands and 

 on the coasts of France and Holland, and the other smaller, which visits England 

 in spring (not to be confounded with the Little Ringed Plover, s£. curonicd). 

 Abroad the Ringed Plover is widely distributed, breeding as far north as Spits- 

 bergen and southwards to Central Europe and Central Asia, also in Greenland and 

 the eastern parts of North America. In winter it ranges to the Mediterranean 

 countries, and southwards to Cape Colony in Africa. 



The nest consists of a hollow in the sand or pebbly beach, occasionally with a 

 lining of small stones, and contains four eggs, generally laid about the middle of 

 April, of a yellowish-buff, spotted and blotched with brownish-black and shades of 

 purplish-grey. This species generally breeds twice in the season. When the eggs 

 or young are approached the parent bird shows great anxiety, and will endeavour to 

 lead away the intruder by feigning lameness or a broken wing. Though without 

 bright colouring, few birds are so attractive as this dainty little wader, with its 

 strongly contrasted markings of black and white and grey-brown mantle. 



Flocks of varying size may be seen scattered along our shores in autumn and 

 winter, and when feeding on the flats left bare by the receding tide they spread out, 

 and, keeping a little apart, run a few paces, quickly pick up some small sea-worm, 

 shrimp, or other marine creature, then pausing for a moment or two proceed in their 

 quest. When thus engaged they usually keep near the margin of the waves, where 

 a larger supply of food is obtained, and now and again, as they move along, they 

 utter their soft and plaintive whistle, one of the most pleasing sounds in nature. 



When their feeding grounds are covered, the birds retire to some quiet spot 

 above high-water mark, when they rest and preen their feathers. Macgillivray 



