166 
CHARADRIID^. 
clearly made out whether or not it alights at a distance from 
the nest upon its return, as the Skylark does. I remember, 
however, accidentally disturbing a Einged Plover from its nest 
one snovy morning early in May. The bird, as usual, ran 
directly away, the footprints thus made being the only ones 
upon the otherwise undisturbed surface of the snow in the 
immediate vicinity of the nest, although there were numerous 
others in all directions a few yards distant. After remaining 
in a neighbouring cottage for about ten minutes, during which 
time no other shower had occurred, I returned to the nest, and 
there found the bird upon the eggs, the return track being 
visible to the very brink. Notwithstanding the unfavourable 
state of the weather, the whole four young ones came forth in 
due time. At a very early stage of incubation, the bird usually 
runs rapidly away ; but as the time of hatching approaches, the 
usual device of feigning lameness or a broken wing is invariably 
resorted to, and so helpless does the bird appear that it is dif- 
ficult to avoid an occasional attempt to throw one’s hat over it. 
No one who witnesses the singular performance for the first time 
fails to fall into ecstacies of pity and admiration at the perfect 
manner in which the clever little bird acts its part. 
Among the thousands of the eggs of this species which I have 
seen, comparatively few remarkable varieties have occurred. 
The most remarkable is of a yellovdsh colour, with a few large 
blotches of dark brown, and is so similar in appearance to the 
lower figure of the quail’s egg in the second edition of Mr 
Hewitson’s work on the “Eggs of British Birds,” that every one 
to whom I have shown it has been struck with the resemblance. 
The only other egg in the nest was of the ordinary form and 
colour. Sometimes, though rarely, the eggs are much streaked 
round the large end ; I have one in which the streaks measure 
up to three-quarters of an inch in length. Another, taken from 
a nest containing three eggs of the usual dimensions, is no longer 
than that of a common Sparrow ; it is perfectly coloured, but 
measures only ten lines in length by eight in breadth. 
