326 BIRDS OF SOMERSETSHIRE. 
bents twisted round it,—but occasionally a more 
eluborate structure is produced.* 
The food of this species appears to be tolerably 
varied: it consists mostly of worms, small beetles, 
slugs and insects, vegetable matter and berries of 
heath plants.t In hard frosty weather the Golden 
Plovers resort to the sea-coast, where they feed on 
the grubs and insects to be picked out of the sand 
and mud, and on these occasions they are not such 
good eating as when they feed more inland. 
The plumage of the Golden Plover with which we 
are best acquainted is as follows:—The beak is 
nearly black; the irides brown; the head, neck, 
back, scapulars, rump, wing and tail-coverts and 
tertials are dark brownish black, spotted with yellow ; 
the sides of the throat are streaked with the same 
colours; the primary quills are dusky, with very 
slight tips and edges of dull dirty white; the chin 
and throat are white; the breast 1s spotted the same 
as the upper parts, but not nearly so distinctly ; the 
belly and under tail-coverts are white; the flanks are 
barred with dull dusky. In summer the upper parts 
become brighter and more distinct, the dark parts 
getting almost black and the yellow much brighter ; 
the throat, breast and all the under parts are then 
black, bordered all}round with a little white. The 
* ‘ Zoologist ’ for 1864, p. 9230. 
+ Meyer's ‘ British Birds,’ vol. v., p. 170. 
