388 CHARADRIIDK. 



flocks on the cultivated ground in the south-western part of 

 Norway ; Mr. William Christy saw it at Hammerfest, and 

 Linna?us mentions having seen plenty during his tour in the 

 Lapland Alps. It goes to the Faroe Islands, to Iceland, 

 and Greenland every summer ; and was seen on different 

 occasions by the Arctic voyagers from this country as far to 

 the northward and westward as the North Georgian Islands 

 and Felix Harbour. Dr. Richardson, in the Fauna Boreali- 

 Americana, says, " that the breeding quarters of this well- 

 known bird are the barren grounds and the coasts and islands 

 of the Arctic Sea. It hatches early in June, and retires 

 southwards in August. Numbers linger on the muddy shores 

 of Hudson"'s Bay, and on the sandy beaches of rivers and 

 lakes in the interior, until the hard frosts of September and 

 October drive them away. At this period they are very fat, 

 and are highly prized by the epicures of the fur-countries. 

 They make but a short stay in Pennsylvania, and are said to 

 winter beyond the United States." There appears, how- 

 ever, to be some doubt whether the bird which goes so far 

 south as to winter beyond the United States is the true 

 Ch. pluviah's of European naturalists. Sir William Jardine, 

 Bart, in the second volume of his illustrated edition of Wii- 

 son"'s American Ornithology, has given the specific characters 

 of Ch. pluvialis and Ch. virginianus in parallel columns : 

 the distinctions are conspicuous ; and the Prince of Musig- 

 nano has not included the Ch. pluvialis in his recently pub- 

 lished List of the Birds of North America. Two examples 

 of Golden Plover from North America in the Museum of 

 the Zoological Society differ from our British bird, and 

 appear to me to be identical with the Golden Plover found 

 in Asia, to be hereafter referred to. North America may 

 produce two species of Golden Plover; but the figure of the 

 Golden Plover in Wilson's work exhibits in the beak, in 

 the lengthened legs, and in the extent of the bare part above 



