712 
Captain P. W. Mann on the [Ibis, 
Puerto Alcudia. The birds pair about the middle of Feb¬ 
ruary, and in 1920 I found the earliest eggs on 10 April- 
two nests with fresh eggs and one with eggs considerably 
incubated ; but in 1921 the first nest was found on 27 
March with fresh eggs. The eggs are always difficult to 
find, being often half buried in the sand, with usually no 
nest beyond a mere scrape; but nests made on the mud in 
the marshes or on dry patches inland have generally a 
number of small stones or pieces of dried mud arranged 
around and beneath the eggs. In the marshes they are in¬ 
variably laid on the edge of an open space beneath a tiny 
stalk of samphire. On the sand the footprints of the birds 
show the whereabouts of their nest, and generally there are 
several “ scrapes ” near by, which have not been utilised for 
laying in. Several nests were found close to Puerto Alcudia 
on the sandy shore, where sometimes as many as fifty carts 
were being loaded with seaweed, and numbers of nests are 
destroyed by the traffic. One pair of birds tried to nest on 
a threshing-floor near the Port, but were driven away when 
the floor was swept for use. Another pair laid their eggs on 
the top of a low wall bounding the shore. The birds are 
seldom demonstrative when their nest is approached, the 
hen bird usually running quietly away from her eggs. The 
eggs vary very much, one type being very light slone-colour, 
with small spots of black, brown, and grey. Another type 
has a dark ground, thickly scrawled with dark black and 
brown. Some closely resemble eggs of the Little Pinged 
Plover. The note is a sharp “ twit ” or “ chirrup.” 
Obtained by v. Jordans. 
201. iEgialitis dubia. Little Pinged Plover. 
This species is evidently of very rare occurrence, for 
during 1919 and 1920 I never came across it; but early in 
March 1921 a few small parties passed through the district, 
and on 16 March I took a nest with three eggs —an extra¬ 
ordinarily early date considering the inundated state of the 
country—made on the dried mud of the marshes near the 
shore, at the side of a small plant of samphire. The birds 
had entirely disappeared the next day, but on 4 May I found 
