228 CHARADRITDAt 
to follow them several hundred yards from where their 
little downy treasures are crouching low. 
Geographical distribution.—Abroad, this species breeds 
in Central and Northern Europe, including Iceland, while 
on the Asiatic Continent it can be traced to Western Siberia, 
the true Eastern representative being the Lesser Golden 
Plover (Asiatic form). 
Our Golden Plover also breeds in Greenland, but in 
North America its place is taken by the Lesser Golden 
Plover (American form). 
On its southern migration in autumn and winter, the 
Golden Plover is distributed over the Kuropean Continent, 
as well as over South-west Asia; wanderers reach South 
Africa. 
DESCRIPTIVE CHARACTERS. 
PLUMAGE. Adult male nuptial.—Forehead and _ stripe 
over the eye, white; top of head, hind-neck, back, scapulars, 
and wings, beautifully mottled with rich golden-yellow on 
a blackish ground; primaries, dark brown ; axillaries, white ; 
tail, barred with brown and yellow; cheeks, chin, throat, 
front of neck, breast, and abdomen, black; flanks and side 
of neck, edged with a white line, continuous with the stripe 
over the eye. 
Adult female nuptial.cSimilar to the male plumage, 
except that the black on the breast and abdomen is less 
developed, and is broken up into patches. 
Adult winter, male and female.—The black feathers 
are for the most part replaced by white, but the cheeks, 
sides of neck, and breast, are mottled brown and golden- 
yellow; the yellow mottlings of the head, hind-neck, back, 
scapulars, and wings, are more marked than in the nuptial 
plumage. 
Immature, male and female.—Resembles the adult winter 
plumage, but the ground-colour of the top of the head is 
blacker and the flanks are more mottled with dusky-brown 
and white, while the rest of the plumage, except in the 
region of the abdomen and throat, is profusely speckled 
with golden-yellow spots on a brown ground-colour. 
Brak. Blackish-brown. 
Frer. Blackish. 
IrtpEs. Blackish-brown. 
