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,+ 
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 plumage, 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 continuing 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 Ist 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 the Ionian 
Islands, &¢.”’ (“ 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.” 
+ Mr. Fenwick Hele in the “ Field” (vol. xxix., 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. 
