174 BULLETIN" 140, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



some districts the hooded crows, destroy eggs or young. The fox, no 

 doubt, occasionally snaps up an isolated nest of eggs or young. 



Fail. — About the end of October or early in November the flocks 

 of northern golden plover arrive on the marshes of the east coast of 

 England, sometimes in enormous numbers, but their length of stay is 

 determined by weather conditions, to which they are very susceptible, 

 showing extreme restlessness before the approach of stormy or windy 

 weather and leaving the district altogether in hard winters. 



^Y^nter. — Many birds winter on the coast of the British Isles unless! 

 the weather is severe, feeding chiefly on small marine mollusca but, 

 as a rule, avoid the mud flats, which are the favorite resort of the grey 

 plover {SquafaroJ a) , exce-pt occasionally in very dry weather, feeding 

 chiefly on the pasture lands and in the wheat fields in the daytime 

 and leaving at dark for the higher ground. 



DISTRIBUTION 



Breedinff range. — The northern race breeds in Iceland, the Faroes, 

 probably a pair or two on Bear Island, northern Scandinavia, Fin- 

 land, and North Russia and Siberia to the Yenisei. The southern 

 race breeds in the mountainous parts of the British Isles, southern 

 Scandinavia, Denmark, sparingly in Belgium, Holland, and North 

 Germany, and in Russia south to the Perm Government. 



Winter range. — It is not possible to separate the winter ranges of 

 the two forms at present, but golden plower migrate across Europe 

 to the Mediterranean and north Africa, occasionally visiting the 

 Atlantic isles, and are said to have occurred in the Gabun on the 

 west and Somaliland and Lama in East Africa ; in Asia its limits are 

 Aden, Baluchistan, and Sind. 



SpHng migration. — At the Straits of Gibraltar the northern 

 migrants pass in February and March (late date March 6, L. H. 

 Irby), but on the Portuguese coast W. C. Tait states that they leave 

 at the end of February. In the eastern Mediterranean the passage 

 is noted at Cyprus in early March. At Heligoland Giitke says they 

 arrive during May and early June on their way to Scandinavia, but 

 the Icelandic flocks arrive about mid-April as a rule. 



Fall migration. — On the southward migration Giitke records the 

 arrival of the birds of the year as early as July, but adds that the 

 old birds only begin to arrive toward the end of October. On the 

 west side of the Mediterranean Tait records the arrival of the earliest 

 birds in October, but the main passage in November; and Farier 

 also notes the passage at Tangier in October and November; while 

 on the eastern side they reach Cyprus about the beginning of 

 November. 



