GOLDEN PLOVER. 37 



amongst the wool and flesh, and all so eager in their search as to allow 

 him to approach within a few feet ere they took wing. In winter, when 

 they have for the most part deserted the moors, and seek their food on 

 the coast, they chiefly subsist on various marine animals ; but in mild 

 open weather they frequent the pastures adjoining the sea to search for 

 worms, grubs, &c. Vegetable fragments, small seeds, and small pieces 

 of gravel are sometimes found in its stomach. In autumn the low-lying 

 eastern coasts of England often swarm with these birds, which appear to 

 feed almost exclusively at night, especially when the moon is near the full. 



There are few sounds more in harmony with their surroundings than the 

 notes of the Golden Plover. The alarm-note is a plaintive k'6, scarcely 

 distinguishable from that of the Grey Plover, and the call-note is a double 

 kl-ee ; whilst in the pairing-season, when the male is fluttering in the 

 air above his mate, the note is repeated so rapidly that it becomes a trill. 

 Both birds call on the ground as well as in the air. It is astonishing at 

 what great distances the whistle of the Golden Plover may be heard on 

 the moors, its shrill clear tones being quite distinct when the birds them- 

 selves appear little more than specks hovering and fluttering in the blue 

 hazy distance. 



In the British Islands the breeding-season of the Golden Plover com- 

 mences about the second week in May, sometimes a little earlier, sometimes 

 a little later, according to the state of the season. Although the flocks 

 of these birds disperse in spring, throughout the breeding-season the 

 Golden Plover is more or less sociable and may repeatedly be seen in 

 parties. Several pairs, as a rule, nest in the same vicinity. The nest 

 is rather larger, deeper, and better made than that of the Lapwing, and is 

 composed of bits of dry herbage and scraps of heath and moss, arranged 

 in a small depression in the ground or on the top of a tuft, or in a clump 

 of cotton-grass. The eggs are four in number and are very beautiful. 

 They vary in ground-colour from pale bufl* to rich buff", with occasionally 

 a tinge of olive, and are spotted and blotched with rich purplish brown 

 and brownish black. The underlying markings are comparatively few, 

 very small, and inky grey. The larger markings are generally most 

 numerous on the large end of the egg. Many of the blotches are con- 

 fluent and cover a large portion of the eg^ ; but occasionally the markings 

 are small, varying in size from that of a pea to fine shot. They are 

 pyriform in shape, and vary in length from 2'2 to 1"95 inch, and in breadth 

 from 1*5 to 1'3 inch. Eggs of the Golden Plover may generally be 

 distinguished from those of the Lapwing and Grey Plover by their much 

 brighter colour, the ground-colour is clearer and less olive, and the 

 markings are richer. As a rule, they are slightly larger in size than those 

 of the Lapwing. 



W^hen the breeding-grounds of this bird are invaded, the anxious parents 



