KINGED PLOVER. 
165 
gravelly patches which so frequently occur among the stunted 
grass and heather, a preference being shown to the vicinity of 
water, even though the quantity be barely sufficient to glisten 
in the sunshine. A perfect nest consists of a saucer-shaped 
hollow scraped in the ground, lined with small stones, which are 
sometimes so thickly piled round the sides that the eggs are found 
standing almost perpendicularly upon their small ends ; upon 
the beach, broken shells are often substituted for or mixed 
with the stones. Like the Oyster-catcher, the Einged Plover 
will frequently make more nests than it requires for use, and 
three or four may sometimes be found within a few yards of a 
sitting bird. Occasionally, the presence of a large stone or a 
root at the bottom of one of these hollows shows sufficient cause 
for abandonment, but it often happens that these barren nests 
are carefully lined and finished. The cavity, of a perfect nest 
measures from four inches and a half to five inches across, ac- 
cording to its depth, the deepest being of course also the widest. 
A few years ago, near the spot above mentioned, about half a 
dozen pairs occupied a piece of ground of about four hundred 
yards in length by as many in breadth. One winter, a number 
of men commenced digging out and removing the numerous 
scattered stones, leaving the ground much cut up and full of 
small holes. Upon the return of the breeding season, the little 
colony, instead of being scared completely away, merely shifted 
about three hundred yards southwards, a position which it still 
continues to occupy. In the spring of 1859 I found a solitary 
nest near Swina Ness, and watched it until the four young 
birds were hatched, when the nest was deserted for the remain- 
der of the year. The same thing happened the next spring, and 
even the next to that, after which I never saw the birds near 
the spot again ; thus I became acquainted with two important 
facts in the history of this species, — first, that^ it will return 
annually to the same nest; and secondly, that it is single-brooded, 
although fresh eggs are to be found from the middle of 
April to the beginning of July. The sitting bird usually runs 
from the nest instead of taking wing, but no one seems to have 
