102 BIRDS OF NORFOLK. 



plague to the gunners by putting up other birds." He 

 also adds that, although rarely congregating amongst 

 themselves,"^ "they delight to consort with dunlins, 

 knots, or indeed any birds of that kind." The grey 

 plover differs also from the golden, in being essen- 

 tially a bird of the coast, stragglers only, and those 

 very rarely, being seen inland, as, in October, 1847, 

 when a single bird was shot between Swaffham and 

 Hilborough, as recorded in Mr. Dowell's notes; and 

 Mr. Newcome shot one at Feltwell some years back, 

 the only one he has ever seen in that neighbourhood. 

 About the first week in May these plover again make 

 their appearance on their way northward, having at 

 that time nearly completed their full summer dress, f 

 and in cold backward seasons, such as that of 1853, 

 many beautiful specimens are procured on Breydon, 

 with the red knots and godwits, as late as the 20th or 

 24th of that month. On the 20th of May in that year 

 I purchased one of the most perfect specimens in full 

 nuptial plmnage, I ever saw ; the beautifully marbled 

 appearance of the back and wing coverts contrasting 

 with the pure black of the neck and breast, and the 

 white contmuing from the forehead downwards, so as to 

 margin the black on the neck and breast on either side, 

 as far as the point of the wing. 



On the 1st of July, 1854, I was shown a bird of this 

 species, which had been shot at Yarmouth only the day 

 before ; and in the first week of June, 1863, I met with 



* Lord Lilford, in his " Notes on birds observed in tbe Ionian 

 Islands, &c." (" Ibis," 1860, p. 339), describes a singular habit in 

 this species, which seems to have escaped hitherto the notice of 

 ornithologists, that of "throwing somersaults in the air, in the 

 same manner as the tumbler pigeon and roller." 



t Mr. Fenwick Hele in the " Field " (vol. sxix., p. 389) states 

 that on the 2nd of May, 1867, he received " five perfect specimens 

 of the grey plover in full dress," killed near Aldeburgh, Suffolk. 



