GREY PLOVER. 91 



winter with us. Thus I have obtained specimens in December 

 and January, as well as in spring. In that season, however, 

 it seems to be more numerous in England than in Scotland, 

 although nowhere common. Mr. Yarrell says he has " occa- 

 sionally obtained a specimen in the London market in the 

 full black plumage at the end of May ;" Mr. Selby , too, has 

 sometimes met with one or two on the Fern Islands in June, 

 but could never detect any of their young ; and Dr. Fleming 

 says he has " reason to believe that it breeds in the high 

 grounds of the Mearns." I have not been able to find any 

 evidence of its breeding there, or in any part of Aberdeen- 

 shire; though it visits the coasts of the latter county in 

 autumn. 



From the polar regions it extends to Japan, and even to 

 New Guinea and Java. It has been found in Bengal and at 

 the Cape of Good Hope, as well as in Egypt, Italy, Spain, 

 France, Holland, Germany, and Russia. It is remarkable 

 that the individuals which reside in the wanner climates 

 appear to retain the same colours in summer as in winter. 

 M. Temminck says, " those which come from the Isles of 

 Sunda and New Guinea are generally much smaller, and, 

 although received in great number and killed at different 

 periods of the year, there has not come to us a single indi- 

 vidual clothed in the beautiful summer plumage ; all bearing 

 the winter livery, precisely similar to that of our individuals 

 killed in Europe." Perhaps these small-sized individuals 

 may be of a distinct species, those analogous supposed indi- 

 viduals of the Golden Plover having been found to be spe- 

 cifically different. I have a specimen of the Grey Plover in 

 winter plumage from Bengal, but it is fully equal to our 

 northern individuals. In America, the species is also widely 

 dispersed. Dr. Richardson remarks that " it breeds in open 

 grounds from Pennsylvania to the northern extremity of the 

 continent ;" Mr. Audubon, who traced it from the Gulf of 

 Mexico to Labrador, states that in winter most of the mi- 

 grating individuals pass southward beyond the limits of the 

 United States ; but that some spend the summer months in 

 the mountainous parts of Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Con- 

 necticut, where they breed. " The nest is merely a slight 



