suggest that this race breeds sparingly on the coasts of Kent and
Sussex.
KENTISH PLOVER.
This species, the _Ægialitis cantiana_ of ornithologists, is one of the
most local of British birds. Stragglers have been obtained here and
there along the coast line between Yorkshire and Cornwall, but its only
known nesting places are on certain parts of the coasts of Kent and
Sussex. It is now nearly a century ago since this Plover was first made
known to science by Lewin, who figured it in his _Birds of Great
Britain_; and by Latham, who described and named it in the supplement to
his great work, the _Index Ornithologicus_, from examples which had been
obtained on the Kentish shingles by Mr. Boys of Sandwich. The Kentish
Plover bears a superficial resemblance to the Ringed Plover, but may
readily be distinguished by the broken pectoral band, represented by a
dark patch on each side of the breast, and the reddish-brown nape and
crown. Unlike the preceding species, this Plover is a summer migrant
only to the British coasts, arriving towards the end of April or early
in May, and departing again with its young in August or September. Odd
birds, however, have been met with during winter. The Kentish Plover
does not differ in its habits in any marked degree from the Ringed
Plover, and frequents very similar localities, stretches of sand and
shingle. Like that bird, it also gathers into small parties during
summer; but in our islands, where its numbers are limited, we more
usually find it in isolated pairs on various suitable parts of the
shore. It possesses the same restless habits; running about the wet
shining sands and shingles close to the breaking waves, in quest of the
sand-hoppers, crustaceans, worms, and other small marine creatures on
which it feeds. It cannot be regarded as a shy bird, permitting a
somewhat close approach, and manifesting little fear or alarm even when
its breeding grounds are invaded by man. Its alarm note may be described
as a shrill _ptirr_, but the usual call is a clear loud _whit_, which,
during the love season, is frequently uttered so quickly as to form a
sort of trill, as the cock bird soars and flies round and round above
his mate. The Ringed Plover utters a very similar trill during the
pairing season.
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