AMERICAN GOLDEN PLOVER 183 



rapidly and gracefully, stopping suddenly to look around, with 

 head held high, and then striking quickly at some morsel of food. 

 Mr. Mackay (1891) says: 



When scattered over considerable ground, as is usual after they have been 

 any length of time on their feeding ground, every bird apparently on its own 

 hook, if alarmed, a note is sounded ; they then rise so as to meet as soon as 

 possible at a common center, which gained, away they go in a compact body. 

 During the middle of the day they are fond of seeking the margins of ponds, 

 where they sit quietly for a long time, if undisturbed. When disturbed they 

 are almost certain to return, in a short time, to the same spot from which 

 they have been started, that is, if they have been resting or feeding there any 

 length of time. When suspicious, it is very difficult to approach, decoy, or call 

 them ; if not harassed, they are as a rule quite tame and gentle, and can be 

 easily driven up to with horse and wagon. 



Voice. — John T. Nichols says in his notes : 



The flight note of the golden plover in migration is a far-reaching que-e-e-a, 

 with a quaver in the middle and falling at the end. Though with a thrilling 

 plover quality it at the same time has an affinity to the killdeer's cry, being 

 less mellow and whistled than the note of the blackbelly, which it also suggests, 

 reversed. 



Mr. Mackay (1891) says that when these birds are approaching 

 decoys every bird seems to be whistling " a note like cgodle, coodle, 

 coodle." Mr. Forbush (1912) calls its note " a plaintive too-Iee-e" 

 or "a bright whistle, queep-quee-lee-IeepJ^ Others have given 

 different renderings of some of the above notes. 



Field marks. — The bird with which the golden plover is most 

 likely to be confused is the black-bellied plover, but the golden is a 

 smaller, more slender, bird, with a generally darker appearance. 

 When seen in flight the tone of the tail is very dark and the axillars, 

 under the wings, are grey, whereas in the black-bellied the tail is 

 decidedly whitish and the axillars are very conspicuously black in 

 all plumages; furthermore the black-bellied has a conspicuous light 

 wing bar, which is lacking in the golden. The notes of the two are 

 quite different. When in hand the golden is seen to have no hind 

 toe. Mr. Nichols suggests that the golden has a swifter, more buoy- 

 ant flight, suggestive of the killdeer. 



Fall. — Mr. Murdoch (1885) refers to the beginning of the migra- 

 tion as follows: 



The nesting season continues till the first or middle of July, about which 

 time the adults begin to collect in flocks, feeding together around the ponds 

 on the higher tundra, associated sometimes with a few knots or a struggling cur- 

 lew. The old birds leave for the south about the end of July, and no more 

 plovers are to be seen until about the middle of August, when the young, wha 

 heretofore have been keeping out of sight, scattered over the tundra, gather 

 into flocks, and for several days are quite plenty on the dryer hills and banks, 

 after which they depart. Stragglers may be seen up to the end of August. 

 231&— 29 13 



