THE GOLDEN PLOVER 201 



the land is btiil deep under snow, in spite of the hght from 

 the midnight sun. I have seen such a company of Plover 

 as late as the third week in May, and at the time was at a 

 loss to account for their appearance. 



While the Curlew is rarely found nesting above the 

 2000-foot level, the Golden Plover is found on the great 

 mosses of the Highlands quite 1000 feet higher, and I have 

 occasionally seen them at a height of 4300 feet above the 

 sea. On one occasion, while on the plateau of Braeriach, 

 itself at the 4000-feet level, I had an excellent view of a 

 Golden Plover as he flew across from out of the west. 

 Long before he was visible his clear-toned whistle was 

 borne down the wind, and the bird crossed over the 

 plateau at great speed, the snow-covered ground and the 

 Dee running beneath its white blanket — ^though the season 

 was early September — having little attraction for the 

 Feadag. On the Moine IMlior — the great moss stretching 

 away for miles on the borders of Aberdeenshire and 

 Inverness-shire, on which many burns have their birth- 

 place, the voice of the Golden Plover is the only sound to 

 break the stillness of this country of mist and storms. 

 April is giving place to May ere the Plover reach the Great 

 Moss, for its surface carries the winter snows long, and the 

 springs are frost-bound, yielding up no food for the Plover 

 tribe. But on the lower-lying moors and " white land " 

 the courting of the Plover takes place during March and 

 April, and by the third week of the latter month some of 

 the more forward of the birds are already brooding. 



During the season of courtship, and indeed up to June, 

 is heard the song of the Golden Plover, and this song is 

 one of the most striking things in the habits of moorland 

 birds. Before commencing to sing, the cock bird mounts 

 into the air to a height of at least 100 feet, and flies slowly, 

 deliberately around the spot where his mate is listening 

 to him below, uttering as he flies a musical whistling cry 



