688 
Staff-Surgeon K. H. Jones on Birds. 
species leave the neighbourhood o£ Wei Hai Wei for the 
south. In habits and actions the Kentish Plover in North- 
East China does not appear to differ in any way from the 
same bird in Europe. 
The number of bogus nests or scratches is astonishing, 
and to each of them leads four tracks of the birds^ feet, in 
the form of a cross, of which the intersection of the two 
cross-pieces is formed by the scraped hollow. Of all the 
nests observed not one was on shingle, all were on the sand, 
but certainly shingle is not plentiful. Nearly all the nests 
have small pieces of shell round and in them. 
Frequently eggs of the Kentish Plover were found almost 
buried in the sand, but whether this was due to action on 
the part of the birds, or whether the sand had simply 
blown into this position it was impossible to make out. 
If the eggs are purposely covered by the birds, which seems 
probable, it may be with the double object of concealing 
them from view and preserving them from the scorching 
rays of a hot sun and the desiccating action of the very dry 
wind. 
All the clutches observed were of three eggs except one, 
which contained five, and were thought to be the produce 
of one hen. It is of interest in this connection to observe 
that Ticehurst, f History of the Birds of Kent/ p. 424, 
mentions clutches of five eggs and gives his reasons for 
believing them to be the produce of single pairs. 
The Kentish Plovers have dark legs, and none were seen 
with light-coloured ones, but when first hatched, and for 
some weeks afterwards, the young shew the dark colour 
only on the foot and the back of the tarsus. 
The earliest record of fresh eggs, a full clutch, was 
April 28th, and on June 18th many nests contained one and 
two fresh eggs only, so that it is possible that this species 
is sometimes double-brooded about Wei Hai Wei. The 
great majority of birds begin to breed, however, during the 
first week of June, and as they are a good deal robbed by 
small Chinese boys, this may account for some being later 
than others. 
