PETCHORA 413 



perfectly silent, and the female onlj^ twice or thrice 

 uttered her single note just before going on the nest. 

 These are the most silent birds we have met with, of the 

 species. 



A male to-day was heard to utter a triple-syllabled note 

 like ' Peel-oo-wi ' once or twice. "We found just the two 

 pairs, of which we took the eggs and a single male ; and 

 Piottuch, who was with us this trip, found another pair, 

 but failed in finding the nest. 



It is difficult at a first attempt, perhaps, to watch a 

 Plover, Golden or Grey, to her nest, until one becomes 

 acquainted with the different habits of the male and 

 female, and can distinguish at once between them. 



The female is usually, if not always, the first to return 

 to the nest. She runs anxiously towards it, or in the 

 direction of it, mounts on a hummock, usually utters her 

 single ' pwew ' at intervals, runs silently, head down, 

 across the hollows, and stands again prominently on the 

 hummocks, looking round or in the direction of danger. 

 She passes and repasses the spot where the nest is, 

 approaches and retreats from it, then perhaps flies past it 

 to another post of outlook and again advances, and finally 

 suddenly runs on to, and settles on, the nest. She utters 

 only a single note at the nest. 



The male arrives with, or more usually a little after, 

 the female, is very silent, but when he does call, calls 

 ' peelwhui ' — the first syllable very short. Very rarely 

 have we heard him give the single note, though he does 

 do so occasionally. 



In order to ascertain for certain that the male does 

 utter the single note, I watched the bird on the 3rd 

 (before Seebohm found the nest) at tw^enty paces' distance 

 through my binocular. He cried usually the double note, 

 but twice I distinctly saw him open his bill and say 

 *pwew.' (Perhaps he said 'phew.' I was not more than 



