50 On the Ornithology of Wilts [^CharadriadcB]. 



Manningford, from whose letter, dated Sep. 2nd, 1864, I quote the 

 following particulars, " I think you will be glad to hear that the 

 Norfolk Plovers I mentioned are alive and doing well : my son 

 picked them up on our downs between Manningford and Everleigh, 

 and as I believe no instance of their breeding in Wilts is yet 

 recorded, it may be worth while to note the particulars. F. O. 

 Morris says that ' the young when fledged will squat, and allow 

 themselves to be picked up. If disturbed from the nest, the parent 

 runs oflP very swiftly, with the head stooped.' This, my son states, 

 is exactly what occurred when he found the birds. About ten days 

 after he had taken them, a person called at my house with another 

 young Norfolk Plover, picked up on the Rushall or Charlton downs: 

 and about the same time I saw at least two pairs flying and hovering 

 about the downs near Sidbury Hill, not far from the old track from 

 Marlborough to Salisbury." Thus it is clearly establislied that the 

 Great Plover is no stranger to Wiltshire, albeit of not very frequent 

 occurrence in the present da}' : and I have entered fully into the 

 evidences of its appearance on our downs, because it has been 

 doubted by «orae whether the species has not been mistaken. That 

 such, however, is not the case, I am perfectlj' convinced, and indeed 

 there is no other bird with which it can be readily confused : it is 

 of fine stately form, of considerable size and of erect carriage, and 

 its large prominent yellow eye is the principal feature which 

 attracts attention. Like the Bustards, it lays but two eggs, and 

 in its insect and animal diet as well as general habits, it follows 

 the custom of its congeners. 



" Golden Plover." {Charadrius plvvialis.) The Wiltshire sports- 

 man on the downs will not need to be told that here we have a 

 winter migrant which favours our county when frosts and snows 

 drive it from more northern latitudes, but which retires again as 

 spring draws on, to breed in the mountain districts it loves so well. 

 It is a handsome bird even in winter, when the golden hue which 

 overspreads its plumage gives it a bright appearance, but when 

 met with in full breeding dress in summer, as I have seen it ia 

 Norway, on the high fjelds of that wild country, it assumes such 

 altered colours that we can scarcely recognize it : for in place of 



