PLOVERS AND THEIR PECULIARITIES 107 



fierce quadrupeds and small birds is, as I have 

 elsewhere pointed out, of common occurrence in 

 Africa and other countries. The sea-cow bird — 

 unless when actually in attendance upon its big 

 friend — betrays none of the jealousy or restlessness 

 at the sight of mankind so often noticed in other 

 members of the family ; and I have had no trouble 

 in approaching quite closely to the birds as they 

 fed fearlessly in the shallows and upon the mud- 

 flats of African " vleis " and rivers. 



Besides the grey plover, the Norfolk plover or 

 thick-knee, the Kentish plover, the common turn- 

 stone, and the ringed plover (previously mentioned) 

 — all birds of Great Britain — are found in Southern 

 Africa. The well-known golden plover of England 

 has been also cited by Dr. Hartlaub as a denizen of 

 South Africa. Its occurrence seems, however, to 

 have been exceedingly rare, and, personally, I have 

 never set eyes upon a specimen between the Cape 

 and the Lake Ngami country. This bird, by the 

 bye, takes its scientific name — Charadrms pluvialis, 

 the " rainy plover " — from its wild, restless habits 

 just before the approach of heavy rains and storms. 

 There seems little doubt upon this point. The very 

 name plover is derived from the old French word 

 plovier — modern French jphovler — which manifestly 

 had something to do with a rainy origin. Whether 

 because some members of the family were supposed 



