GOLDEN PLOVER. 101 



the Snipes ; but I seldom succeeded in my object, it being 

 extremely difficult to estimate distances at night. The 

 numbers that at this season frequent the sandy pastures and 

 shores of the outer Hebrides is astonishing. 



Although occasionally addicted to wading, the Golden 

 Plover evidently prefers dry ground, in which respect it 

 differs essentially in habits from the Totani and Limosae. It 

 frequently probes the moist sands, and in summer the cow- 

 dung on the moors and upland pastures is seen perforated 

 by its bill. In summer and autumn it lives on worms, larvse, 

 and insects ; in winter and spring chiefly on marine animals, 

 especially mollusca. It affords very delicate eating, being 

 scarcely inferior to the Woodcock, and is in prime condition 

 in September and October. 



When searching for food in the pasture grounds, the 

 Plovers run about in a lively manner, pick up an object, a 

 worm, an insect, or a small helix, then perhaps stand still 

 and look around for a moment, and continue their occu- 

 pation. If disturbed they cease their pursuit, stand with 

 erected neck, and gaze upon the intruder. One here and 

 there stretches out his wings in a perpendicular direction, 

 another utters a loud mellow scream, when suddenly all fly 

 up, and wheel away, often rising to a great height, and per- 

 forming various evolutions before they alight again. Their 

 flight is beautiful, being direct, sedate, performed by regu- 

 larly-timed beats ;• the birds sometimes moving in a loose or 

 a dense body, sometimes in a straight or angular or undu- 

 lated line. 



On the first frosty days it is pleasant to watch their 

 arrival from the moors, and see them disperse over the mari- 

 time pastures, where, as they are generally hungry, one may 

 frequently obtain several shots. But it is on the flat shores 

 and banks of the Hebrides, on the sands of Uist and Harris, 

 and the Reef of Berneray, that at this season one may be 

 sure of abundant sport. There thousands are often seen, 

 and there it is said upwards of twenty have been killed at a 

 shot. This is possible enough ; but for my own part, I have 

 been content with three, four, or five at a shot, and the 

 greatest number I ever killed was six. When a nock on 



