Shore-bird Shooting 461 



EUROPEAN GOLDEN PLOVER 

 {Charadrius apricarius) 



Adult male and female in breeding plumage — Top of head, entire 

 upper parts, black, spotted with bright yellow and white ; wing- 

 coverts, brown, more sparingly spotted with yellow and white ; 

 primaries, brown, with white shafts ; upper tail-coverts, black, 

 irregularly barred with gold ; tail, dark grayish brown, barred 

 with white, tinged with yellow ; a white line from forehead, pass- 

 ing over the eyes, broadens into a wide patch on the side of 

 breast ; sides of head, neck, throat, and under parts, black ; 

 under tail-coverts, white ; axillary plumes, white ; iris, brown ; 

 bill, black ; legs and feet, plumbeous ; hind toe absent. 



Adult in fall and winter — Upper parts resemble the breeding 

 plumage, but not as bright ; under parts, white ; lower part of 

 neck and breast, mottled with grayish brown feathers. 



Young — Upper parts, dusky, mottled with dull ashy white spots, 

 becoming yellow on the rump ; under parts, ashy, most marked 

 on neck and breast, becoming white below. 



Downy young — Above, golden-yellow mottled with black; lower 

 parts, spot below eye, another on hind neck, and streak on side 

 of back, ashy whitish ; down of breast, blackish at base. 



Measurements — Length, lo inches ; culmen, i inch ; wing, 7 inches ; 

 tarsus, 1.50 inches. 



Eggs — Four ; pyriform ; creamy white, heavily spotted with brown ; 

 measure 2 by 1.40 inches. 



Habitat — Breeds from Iceland, Great Britain, and central Europe 

 to northern Norway and western Siberia. Winters from Great 

 Britain and central Europe to the Canary Islands, South Africa, 

 and India. Several have been recorded from Greenland, where 

 they may breed. 



The European golden plover closely resembles 

 the American bird in plumage, and their habits 

 are the same. Its occurrence in Greenland, where 

 it is said to breed, has admitted it as an American 

 bird. 



