CHARADRID ZX. 325 
collection was indeed in almost perfect summer plu- 
mage. This curious change of plumage appears to 
be produced partly by a mere change of colour in 
the feathers, and partly from moult and a fresh 
growth of feathers. In a note by Mr. Cordeaux on 
this subject, in the ‘ Zoologist,’ he says that on ex- 
amining a bird killed in April he found but little 
change of plumage, but on pulling out the white 
feathers the young crop appeared underneath, just 
bursting out from their blue sheaths; there did not, 
however, appear to be a sufficient growth of these 
new black feathers to make up the full summer 
plumage: probably the deficiency is made up by 
many of the white feathers being changed by the 
black pigment: he continues, “ In the bird examined 
a considerable portion, at least two-thirds, would 
have been entirely new feathers.”* In my specimen 
the colouring process seems to be the most general, 
as many of the feathers are in process of change, 
being a sort of dull dusky, more or less margined 
with white, and the change appears going on much 
as it does in the series of Linnets before mentioned. 
Some of the feathers on the upper parts also appear 
to be changing in a similar manner, and to be 
receiving a brighter and more decided colouring. 
The nest of the Golden Plover is generally a very 
slight affair,—a mere hole in the ground, with a few 
* § Zoologist ’ for 1865, p. 9574. 
2F 
