Class. II. G O L D E N P L O V E R. 475 



we have feen fome with black bellies, others with a 

 mixture of black and white; others with bluilh legs, 

 and fome with a fmall claw in the place of the hind 

 toe. 



They lay four eggs, fliarply pointed at the leffer 

 end, of a dirty white color, and irregularly mark- 

 ed, efpecially at the thicker end, with black blotch- 

 es and fpots. It breeds on feveral of our unfre- 

 quented mountains ; and is very common on thofe 

 of the ifle of Rum, and others of the loftier He- 

 brides. They make a fhrill whittling noife : and 

 may be inticed within mot by a fkilful imitator of 

 the note, 



This lpecies, on account of its fpots, has been 

 fuppofed to have been the Partialis of Arifiotle: but 

 his account of the bird makes no mention of that 

 diftinction : perhaps he thought that the name im- 

 plied it. The Romans feem to have been unac- 

 quainted with the plover : for the name never once 

 occurs in any of their writings. We derive it from 

 the French Pluvier, pource qu'on k prend mieux en 

 temps pluvieux qu'en nulle autre faifm*. 



Melon Oyfeaux. 260. 



u 



