THE RINGED PLOVER. 
97 
bird is stated to breed. The best observations known to ine^ on 
the habits of the ringed plover, having been made by James E. 
Garrett, Esq., I have, through his kindness, the advantage of 
using them here. His remarks are as follow : — 
“ During the summer of 1845 I paid particular attention to the 
habits of ringed dotterels at the Kinnegar, one of their breeding haunts 
in Belfast Bay. After many ineffectual searches, I discovered, on the 
20th May, two of their eggs placed in a slight hollow amongst the 
sand and broken shells which covered the beach at a short distance 
above high-water mark, and from which the eggs were scarcely dis- 
tinguishable. I took one of these, and after carrying it for nearly an 
hour in my hand, was not a little surprised to hear a cry proceeding 
from it, precisely resembling the summer call of the parent birds, 
but so faint as to be barely audible. Being unable to restore the egg 
to the nest, I broke the shell, already chipped. The young bird was 
not sufficiently advanced to be able to stand erect, but it lived upwards 
of an hour, frequently repeating its cry. On the 21st, I.revisited the 
nest, and found the beak of the remaining young bird protruding 
through the shell. Next day, the nest was empty, and I observed the 
larger end of the egg-shell at a short distance from it. The two parent 
birds showed great anxiety, flying about, and using various artifices to 
decoy me from the spot. They continued to repeat their plaintive cry 
so long as I remained in the vicinity. 
“ On the 21st of the same month I found four eggs deposited by 
another of these birds on the bare road leading through a gravel-pit at 
a short distance from the nest above mentioned, and on the 18th of 
June I discovered a second set of four eggs in the same neighbourhood, 
but placed on the stony beach near high-water mark. I took one 
egg from the latter nest on the 18th, and another on the 19th. On 
the 30th, one of the young birds was excluded, and lay with its breast 
and beak close to the stones, beside the unhatched egg. On the 1st 
of July, the young bird and egg had both disappeared, and the two 
parent birds were keeping guard in precisely the same manner as the 
pair first alluded to. 
“ Since noting the foregoing particulars, I have had several oppor- 
tunities of observing the habits of this species under similar circum- 
H 
VOL. II. 
