CHARADRIUS DOMINICUS : GOLDEN PLOVER. 



167 



numbers are increased in September, and all through 

 that month, and perhaps for a few days in October, fine 

 sport may be had. The birds at this season are fat, 

 tender and delicious, being excelled by few in the deli- 

 cate sapidity of their flesh. They are, consequently, in 

 great demand for the market, and are incessantly pur- 

 sued not only by gentlemen who are fond of shooting, 

 but by professional pot-hunters. 



The Golden Plover breeds only far northward, and is 

 not ordinarily seen 

 in the United 

 States in the ad- 

 vanced breeding 

 plumage above 

 noted. It appears 

 to have no special 

 lines of migration, 

 but passes over 

 the country at 

 large, sometimes 

 in vast flocks, its 

 autumnal progress 

 being more leis- 

 urely than its advance in the spring. It reaches its 

 breeding grounds late in May — the barren grounds 

 of British America, and the coasts and islands of the 

 Arctic Ocean. The eggs, as usual in this family, are 

 often est four in number. They are of the ordinary 

 pyriform shape, pointed at one end and very obtuse at 

 the other. The following measurements may indicate 

 extremes of variation in shape — 2.00 by 1.35; 1.80 

 by 1.40. They are distinguished from those of ^. hel- 

 vetica by their decided average smaller size ; and though 



Fig. 37. — Golden Plover. 



