1 68 HANDBOOK OF BRITISH BIRDS 



GREY PLOVER. Squatarola helvetica (Linnaeus). PI. 

 19, figs. 11, 12, 12a. Length, 12 in.; bill, 1-25 in.; 

 wing, 7*5 in. ; tarsus, 1-6 in. 



A spring and autumn migrant, a few remaining 

 the winter. A single instance has come under my 

 observation of a Grey Plover remaining in England 

 throughout the summer. This was in Pagham 

 Harbour, Sussex. The bird was seen constantly 

 from the end of Ma}^ by which time all the migrat- 

 ing flocks had left, until the 29th of August follow- 

 ing, on which day I shot it. It exhibited no trace 

 of any former wound, and was in excellent condition. 

 In this same harbour during several years' observa- 

 tion I found that the Grey Plovers arrive in spring 

 in the first week of May, and are gone before the 

 end of the month. In the autumn they reappear 

 during the first week of October, when the flocks 

 contain many young birds. In their first plumage 

 they are spotted with yellow like the Golden Plover, 

 but may be always distinguished by the possession 

 of a hind-toe, and by having the axillary feathers 

 under the wing black instead of white. 



Middendorf found the Grey Plover breeding on 

 the Taimyr Peninsula in lat. 74° N., as well as on the 

 Boganida, in lat. 71° N. Dr. Richardson reported 

 its breeding on Melville Peninsula, and Capt. Ross 

 to the S. W. of Fury Point (see Appendix to Narrative 

 of Second Voyage of Sir J. Ross). In 1875 Messrs. 

 Seebohm and Plarvie-Brown, travelling in North- 

 eastern Europe, found it breeding on the tundras of 



