GREY PLOVER. 209 



November, especially when the weather is exceptionally 

 severe. It is more usual, however, to find parties of five or 

 six. It has appeared at Pagliam Harbour early in October, 

 and a few have been met with as late as May, when they 

 have assumed the nuptial plumage ; non-breeding birds have 

 even remained throughout the summer. Mr. Jefi'ery men- 

 tions that several were found at Pagham Harbour as late as 

 July 30, 1871, and some in summer plumage were seen in 

 August 1873, but this is very unusual. It occurs all along 

 the coast, from Rye to Chichester. 



Its nidification was unknown until Middendorff found it 

 breeding in Siberia, and figured one of its eggs (Sibir. Reise, 

 II. ii. p. 209, pi. 19, fig. 1) ; and another taken by him on 

 the Taimyr, July 1st, 1833, passed into the collection of 

 Professor Newton, who described and figured it in the Proc. 

 Zool. Soc. for 1861 (p. 398, pi. 39, fig. 2). In 1875 Messrs. 

 Seebohm and Harvie-Brown found it breeding on the Tundras 

 of the Petchora. There were many nests, formed of birch 

 twigs and Iceland moss, containing four eggs each, inter- 

 mediate in colour between those of the Lapwing and the 

 Golden Plover. It feeds on small shrimps and crabs, and 

 other Crustacea, worms and green seaweed. 



Its note, in the breeding- season, has been described as 

 resembling the word " kop," and, on our coasts, on rising, 

 it utters a call which may be expressed by " Tle-ih " in a 

 very high key. Respecting its qualities for the table, Yarrell 

 (vol. iii. p. 282), quoting Muifett, gives the following : — 

 " The gray Plover is so highly esteemed that this Proverb is 

 raised of a curious and male-contented stomack, ' a gray 

 Plover cannot please him.' Yet to some the green [Golden] 

 Plover seemeth more nourishing, and to others the Lapwing, 

 which is indeed savory and light of digestion, but nothing 

 comparable to Plovers." 



