GOLDEN PLOVER. 99 



pursue the retreating mist, in which they will presently 

 vanish from our sight. We have no guns, or pistols, and 

 need none. The lover of birds does not kill all he meets 

 with ; though there are those who profess to be in raptures 

 Avith Ornithology, and estimate their progress in it by the 

 extent of their lists of killed and wounded. But there are 

 all sorts of combinations in human nature, and some natu- 

 ralists are most murderous, while others are so gentle as to 

 grieve when they have heedlessly trampled on a mushroom. 

 We must now, however, descend from the hill, and essay a 

 plain narrative. 



The Golden Plover is generally distributed over Britain 

 in the winter season, when it frequents the open plains and 

 ploughed fields so long as the weather remains mild, but 

 betakes itself to the sea-shore and its vicinity when there is 

 frost. In many parts of Scotland, but especially in the 

 Northern Highlands, and in the Hebrides, it is a very common 

 bird. When the weather begins to improve towards the end 

 of spring, the Plovers may be seen flying over the shores or 

 the fields in their neighbourhood, at a great height, in loose 

 flocks, which now extend into a wide front, now form 

 irregular angular lines, move with a quiet and regular flight, 

 frequently emitting their peculiar soft notes, and at times 

 uttering a singular cry, somewhat resembling the syllables 

 courlie-wee. These flocks are leaving their winter haunts, 

 and returning to the inland moors, over which they disperse 

 in pairs. 



In the beginning of May, should you traverse one of the 

 dreary heaths, you will often hear the plaintive cry of the 

 Plover, mingling, perhaps, with the feeble cheep of the 

 Dunlin, or the loud scream of the Curlew. Before you have 

 advanced to any considerable distance, there may come up 

 and alight on some mossy knoll beside you, a male, clad in 

 his beautiful summer vesture of black and green. You may 

 approach him within ten paces if you are inclined, and in 

 some districts it would be easy for one to shoot many dozens 

 of them in a day at this season. After incubation has com- 

 menced, the females seldom make their appearance on such 

 occasions. Whether the males assist their mates at that 



