GOLDEN PLOVER. 67 
a hard frost, and the re-appearance once more of verdure 
from under the deep snow, the whistle of the golden 
plover, as they rise from the fields, sounds cheerily in 
the bright sunshine of a winter’s morning. The expe- 
rience, however, of old sportsmen and others best 
capable of judging, indicates a very marked decrease, 
of late years, in the number of these birds as observed 
in this county, and even in a locality as little changed 
in its general features as Thetford warren, Mr. Bartlett 
informs me that they are seen only in scores instead 
of hundreds as formerly. About Feltwell, also, they are 
considered scarce. 
Their southward movements, as is the case also 
with many of the Tringe, commences far earlier in 
the autumn than is generally supposed, and, consider- 
ing also their late stay with us, at times, in the 
spring, their nesting duties in more northern localities 
must be performed in a very limited period. It is by 
no means unusual to hear the well known notes of these 
birds, at night, by the middle of August, as the van- 
guard of their migratory forces passes over this county, 
and stragglers occasionally killed at such times leave no 
doubt as to the identity of the species. In Mr. Dowell’s 
MS. notes, I find mention of a single golden plover, seen 
by him at Blakeney, on the 26th of July, 1853, the 
earliest date of which I have any record; but the same ac- 
curate observer noticed several small families in August, 
1852, frequenting the “freshes” about Blakeney and 
Morston; some individuals still retaining their full 
summer plumage. Mr. Alfred Newton tells me that 
in 1852 he and his brother Edward saw a small “ trip” 
occasion, in the month of December, that he was thereby induced 
to put off an intended journey. On the next morning, which was 
calm and mild, the plover had all left; but, in the course of the 
night, so great was the fall of snow that the lanes were filled with 
the drift to the depth of six or seven feet. 
K 2 
