iEGIALITIS cueonica. 
955 
at some little distance from it ; and I have never seen more than half a dozen m the same locality. On the 
rifle-rano-e at Trincomalie, which was a favourite resort in the November and December rains, it consorted 
with a few Lesser Sand-Plovers which were generally to be found in that place; and I have now and then 
seen a solitary individual or a pair associating, but not in close fellowship, with two or three Kentish Plovers 
on open places near tidal flats or land-locked harbours ; but it is more often seen unaccompanied by other 
species, and much more frequently near fresh water than brackish. In countries where there are large rivers 
it frequents their banks, if they be flat and sandy or composed of pebbly reaches, in preference to any other 
places. It is not shy in its disposition, and when flushed generally takes a short flight and realights It may 
always be known in Ceylon from the Kentish Plover by its stature, which is greatei-than that of the latter ; 
but more particularly by its plaintive monosyllabic whistle, which may be likened to pm, which is uttered 
generally when it takes flight and occasionally as it runs along on the ground. This note may per laps 
consist of a double intonation; but the two syllables sound like one drawn out. Naumann, according o 
Mr. Dresser, likens it to did, uttered very short, so that the two vowels are almost united. lhe same au or 
says that “ the pairing-note or song begins slowly and is closed with a peculiar trill like the sylla i es « , u, 
dull, lull, lulluUull. This note is only heard at the breeding-place, and is more frequently uttered by the ma e, 
more seldom by the female, when seated as well as when on the wing, but most frequently when performing 
the aerial evolutions in which the bird so frequently indulges during the pairing-season.” 
Nidification . — The Lesser Ringed Plover breeds freely in the northern parts of India as well as in 
Turkestan and Central Asia. Its nest has been found in the Etawah district, on the Mahanadi, in the Deccan 
[Burgess and Davidson), in Manblium, at Nerbudda, at Islamabad, and on the Jhelurn m Cashmir between the 
month of March and the middle of May. Mr. Hume describes the nest as “ a tiny depression scraped, not 
far from the water’s edge, in sand or very fine shingle, by choice on some water-encircled bank, occasionally 
on some unfrequented part of the river-bank itself. In this, on the bare sand or pebbles, four eggs arc laid.” 
He observes that the eggs are imitations of the Kentish Plover’s, broad ovals, pointed towards one end, of a 
“ drab fawn- or buff stone-colour,” and sometimes of a pale greenish grey, thinly speckled or marked with little 
hieroglyphic-lilce lines and figures of brownish purple, blackish brown, or black, beneath which are underlying 
markings of pale inky purple. They vary in length from PI to P23 inch, and in breadth from O' 8 to O' 87. 
Concerning its nidification in Europe, we gather from Mr. Dresser’s great work that “it nests m places 
where there is pebbly ground, like those selected by MgiaVdis hiaticula, and not in localities where there is 
sand without a strong admixture of small stones. The nest is a mere depression m the ground amongst the 
stones • and the eggs, which are deposited about the middle of May, are four m number, and are like those 
of other Waders, placed with the point inwards.” Mr. Robson informs Mr. Dresser that “they have many 
breeding-places on the coast of the Black Sea, both on the European and Asiatic sea-board, m situations 
where valleys debouch towards the ocean, their wide fronts covered with sand and pebbles, with shallow 
streams of fresh water trickling over a narrow surface towards the beach. In natural cavities in the shingle 
these birds lay their eggs ; and in shallow streams near the sea they find their food, water-beetles and the larvai 
of insects that come down from the mountains in numerous small streams that unite as they near the coast. 
.... On its eggs being approached by man it steals off a short distance, curves its head and tail downwards, 
and runs in irregular lines, much like a small animal, to decoy the intruder away from its eggs, which result 
being accomplished, it rises into the air, making a distant whirl, uttering its piping cry, and, gradually lessen- 
ing the circuit of its flight, alights on the sands and waits a favourable opportunity for returning to its eggs. 
A series which I have examined from European localities, in Mr. Dresser’s collection, procured m Hungary 
and South-eastern Europe, are stone-grey, stone-yellow, and some pale brownish clay-colour, marked with 
small spots and streaky marks of blackish sepia and brown over specks of light lilac or bluish grey ; the 
colouring is pretty evenly though very openly distributed over the eggs, and the linear marks are not so large 
or so numerous as on those of the Kentish Plover. In some the secondary markings take a linear form. 
They measure 1'23 by 087 inch, 115 by 073, D13 by 084. They are broad pointed ovals in shape. 
