382 CHARADRIID.E. 



and fallow lands daring the breeding-season, which com- 

 mences about the second week in April, the female deposit- 

 ing its pair of eggs upon the bare ground, without any nest 

 whatever ; it is generally supposed that the males take no 

 part in the labour of incubation ; this I suspect is not the 

 case : wishing to procure, for a friend, a few specimens in 

 their breeding-plumage, I employed a boy to take them for 

 me ; this he did by ensnaring them on the nest, and the result 

 was that all those he caught during the day proved, upon 

 dissection, to be males. They assemble in flocks previous 

 to their departure, which is usually by the end of October ; 

 but should the weather continue open, a few will remain to a 

 much later period ; I started one as late as the 9th of Decem- 

 ber, in the autumn of 1834." Montagu mentions an in- 

 stance of this bird being killed in Devonshire as early as 

 February in the year 1807. 



The Great Plover visits Lincolnshire ; and Mr. William- 

 son, in reference to the appearance of this species in the 

 vicinity of Scarborough, says, " they breed on the fallows, and 

 often startle the midnight traveller by their shrill and ominous 

 whistle. This is supposed to be the note so beautifully 

 alluded to by Sir Walter Scott in his poem of the Lady of 

 the Lake, — 



' And in the Plover's shrilly strain, 

 The signal whistle 's heard again,' 



for it certainly sounds more like a human note than that of a 

 bird." 



Further north than Yorkshire I do not trace it. 



These birds are usually seen in unenclosed countries or 

 where the fields are large ; they frequent sheep walks, fallow 

 lands, heaths, and warrens, and when trying to get a shot at 

 them, I may remark, that from the bare and exposing nature 

 of the ground, I have always foimd them very difficult of 

 approach. They lay their eggs, generally two in number, on 



