Rearing Ringed Plovers from Ihc Egg. 235 
evening-, but this one only lived till the 28th. As soon as the 
young- were hatched 1 transferred them to an incubator Ijy 
themselves. They were not able to stand up on their feet for 
son-ie hours, and 1 noticed that they took sonie tinie to get 
thoroughly dry. 
I'ood was the next problem; to meet this 1 took my 
water-net and collected a lot of weed from a pond which was 
close at hand. 
The next n-iorning I placed the chicks in an open box in 
the conservatory, and put beside them some of the pond-weed, 
which contained a number of minute insects. After a few 
minutes one of them began to peck about a little, but they would 
not feed iiroi^erly. They soon got cold, and had to be replaced 
in the incubator for the rest of the day. 
(Jn the 14th I placed them in a large glass case (about 
5ft. Ijy i8in.) on which the sun was shining, having previously 
covered the floor with sand. They at once began to run about 
in a very lively manner, and to pick up insects from the weed 
which I offered theni ; but directly a cloud came over the case 
they became dull, and soon lay down and appeared to be dying, 
so again I had to return them to the incubator, where the 
warmth soon revived theni. 
After this they were put out for a short time each day 
while the sun was shining", and I sometimes allowed them loose 
on the lawn, where they caused much amusement and interest 
as they ran about catching insects, in the pursuit of which they 
frecjuently overbalanced themselves. When I atten-ipted to 
catch them they would not always run away, but frequently 
crouched close to the ground, following, no doubt, their 
natural instinct, by which they often escape detection, when 
young-, by hiding- among the pebbles on the seashore. 
For the first two weeks they were fed entirely on water 
insects, such as dragon-fly larvae, gnat grubs, etc., but then I 
thought I would try a change of food, so I dug up some ants' 
nests and put them in the case where they were kept. They 
seemed to like this and eagerly i)icked out the cocoons; they also 
showed a liking for gentles, and after a time would take small 
mealworms. Now and then, when very hungry, they would 
eat a little hard-boiled egg and small pieces of meat, but very 
seldom, and only when nothing else was left. When hungry 
