PLOVER 
265 
same tricks as the cock, both birds doing their 
utmost to prevent the squatting chicks being dis- 
covered. Like most birds which are hatched on 
the open ground, the young Plovers are able to 
run about as soon as they leave the shell, and are 
consequently much more perfectly developed before 
hatching than is the case with those chicks which 
pass a helpless nursing-period in the nest. The 
well-known " Plovers' eggs of table use are laid 
in a slight saucer-like hollow scooped in the 
ground, and lined with a few bents. As is 
characteristic among all the tribe of waders, they 
are very pointed, or pear-like, in shape, and are 
placed symmetrically in the nest with the points to 
the centre, by which method they occupy the least 
possible space. This probably aids concealment, 
and it would naturally also enable the bird to 
cover them more effectually while sitting, a point 
of some importance, as, owing to the advanced 
development of the chick before it is hatched, the 
eggs of wading- birds are very large in proportion 
to the parent. Plovers' eggs are generally olive- 
green in ground-colour, but vary from that tint to 
yellowish-brown ; they are boldly and plentifully 
marked with angular-looking spots of very dark 
brown. It is not the case, as is sometimes stated, 
that the eggs vary in colour according as they are 
laid in a grass field or a ploughed land ; this is 
