GOLDEN TLOVER. 



389 



the joint, as well as some other particulars, the characters 

 of the Golden Plover of Asia, and one specimen of a Golden 

 Plover from South America at the Zoological Society, is 

 similar to those received from the Society Isles and from 

 Sydney, vhich do not differ from the Asiatic bird. 



Our Golden Plover lays but four eggs, which are large in 

 proportion to the size of the bird, but it has only one brood 

 in the season. The eggs are of a yellowish stone colour, 

 blotched and spotted with brownish black ; the length two 

 inches by one inch four lines in breadth. About the end of 

 May, or beginning of June, Mr. Selby observes, the females 

 begin to lay, making but little artificial nest, a small depres- 

 sion in the ground amidst the heath being generally taken 

 advantage of, and lined with a few drv fibres and stems of 

 grass. The young, when excluded, are covered with a beau- 

 tiful parti-coloured down of yellow and brown ; they quit the 

 nest as soon as hatched, and follow their parents till able to 

 fly and support themselves, which is in the course of a month 

 or five weeks. The old birds display great anxiety in pro- 

 tecting their young brood, using various stratagems to divert 

 the attention of an enemy. They feed on worms, slugs, and 

 insects in various states. They have a shrill whistling note, 

 and may be deceived and decoyed within shot by a skilful 

 imitation. 



In autumn the various broods associate, forming flocks, 

 and together wing their way southwards. They are observed 

 in great numbers through the winter on moors, heaths, downs, 

 and large open fields, in most of the southern counties, and 

 many resort to the sea shores. They are excellent birds for 

 the table. 



From the northern parts of the European Continent they 

 also return after the breeding-season, inhabiting for a time 

 France, Provence, Sardinia, Italy, and the shores of Africa. 

 The Zoological Society have received specimens from Trebi- 



