THE GOLDEN PLOVER 



CHABADRIUS PLUVIALIS 



Feadag (Whistler), FEADAa-BnuiDHE (Gaelic) ; Plxjvier dori!; {French) ; 

 GoLDENER Regenpfeifer [German). Local names : — Yeuxjw 

 Plover, Grey Plover, Whistling Plover, Sheep's Guide. 



"The deep-toned Plover Grey, wild whistling on the hill."' 



It is but natural that a bird with so plaintive and melan- 

 choly a cry as the Golden Plover should have more than 

 one legend woven around it by the imaginative people 

 of the western seaboard. By them the Feadag is known 

 to feed on the wind, on the wild wind that sweeps in from 

 the broad Atlantic, because of its great offence committed 

 close on two thousand years ago. For it is known to the 

 Gael that in the fu-st of the Plover tribe there dwelt the 

 souls of those Jews who assisted at the crucifixion of 

 Christ. So through the ages the Plovers have no peace ; 

 they call wildly, mournfully, for very shame at the great 

 sin of their forbears, and they frequent the desolate and 

 remote places where they may seek out from Nature the 

 healing that she alone can give them. 



The Golden Plover is more a lover of the solitary 

 places than the Curlew. It arrives on the hills often 

 before February is out, and right up to December large 

 flocks may be seen frequenting the high moorlands. But 

 it is more than probable that these Plover, seen so late 

 in the season, are wanderers from the High North resting 

 awhile on their southern migration. In like manner there 

 appear in late spring, when our own birds are already 

 busy with family cares, flocks of Golden Plover which are 

 on their way to Northern Norway and Lapland, where 



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