256 THE NESTS AND EGGS OF BRITISH BIRDS. 



a tuft of cotton-grass, or on a clump of herbage, some- 

 times amongst short heath, and rarely on bare ground. 

 It is merely a hollow, scantily lined with a few bits of 

 withered herbage or dry grass. The bird is a light 

 sitter, rising from its nest as soon as the moor is 

 invaded, and often seeks to decoy an intruder from the 

 vicinity, or by a nonchalant manner (especially in the 

 male) endeavour to put him off the scent. 



Range of egg colouration and measurement: 

 The eggs of the Golden Plover are four in number, 

 pyriform in shape, and very large for the size of the 

 parent. They are buff of various shades in ground 

 colour, boldly and richly spotted and blotched with 

 dark purplish-brown and blackish-brown, and with a 

 few small underlying markings of gray. Most of the 

 blotches are generally on the larger end of the q^^. 

 Average measurement, 2-o inches in length, by 1*4 inch 

 in breadth. Incubation, performed by both sexes, lasts 

 from sixteen to twenty days. 



Diagnostic characters : The eggs of the Golden 

 Plover can only be readily confused with those of the 

 Lapwing in our islands, from which however they are 

 distinguished by the absence of olive (they are a richer 

 buff in general appearance) and their larger size. 



