Phan GOLDEN’ PLOVER 
CHARADRIUS PLUVIALIS 
LocaL names in surrounding counties : 
Stratus IN British AvirAunA: A summer resident on 
the moors and uplands from Derbyshire northwards, 
breeding very locally in the south-west of England and in 
Wales, becoming more numerous in Scotland and Ire- 
land ; in winter visits the lowlands and coasts, and is then 
more widely dispersed, its numbers being increased by 
migrants. 
Raprat DistRIBUTION WITHIN FIFTEEN MILES OF ST. 
Paut’s: ‘The Golden Plover is too scarce and local a 
visitor to the Metropolitan area to excite much interest 
in the student or lover of London bird-life. It is, how- 
ever, a regular visitor to “‘ London ” either on migration 
or in winter, and is recorded from Epsom, Kingsbury, 
Stanmore, and the Wanstead Flats. ‘There are various 
localities where this species might reasonably be expected, 
such as marshy meadows, sewage-farms, watercress-beds, 
and so forth, but its visits, if any, are only accidental and 
transient. 
In autumn the Golden Plover leaves the moors and 
mountains of the north to pass the winter on the lowland 
marshes and the coasts, and it is during these migrations 
and the return ones in spring that the bird is most likely 
to be observed in the vicinity of London. Its favourite 
haunts during winter are low-lying coasts and salt marshes, 
where it searches for a variety of marine small animals, 
worms, and grubs, upon which it subsists. , It runs nimbly 
about the ground, living in flocks of varying size, which 
usually assume a V-shaped formation when passing from 
one district to another. It retires in March and April 
to the moors to breed, making a scanty nest upon the 
ground—a mere hollow, lined with a few scraps of dead 
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