82 THE BIRDS OF DORSET. 



said to breed every year on Charlton Down, a part 

 which has been so much frequented by them as to 

 acquire the name of Plover Hole Bottom. Small 

 flocks visit our downs during the winter and early 

 spring, when their cheery notes may be often heard 

 as they wheel round or pass overhead with lightning 

 speed. During hard frost or when snow is on the 

 ground, the Poole estuary is a favourite resort. I 

 have one in my collection in nearly full summer 

 plumage, which was shot by Mr. T. Keynes at 

 Winterbourne Kingston late in the spring of 1881. 



GEEY PLOVER. Squatarola helvetica, (L.) 



Yarrell, iii. p. 278; Harting, p. 43; Dresser, vii. p. 455; Ibis 

 List, p. 158; Charadrius helveticus, Seebolim, iii. p. 44. 



The Grey Plover is a spring and autumn visitant, 

 and is seen inland much less frequently than the 

 Golden Plover, preferring the estuaries and mud- 

 flats. It regularly visits Poole harbour at the period 

 of its migrations, being commoner in autumn than 

 in spring, and a few are met with on the coast some- 

 times in winter. Two were shot at Weymouth 

 in November and December 1850, when there were 

 a good many at Lodmoor ; two in summer plumage 

 were procured at Poole in 1859 ; two at Lodmoor in 

 May 1867 ; and one at the same place in May 1872 

 (W. Thompson). The young birds of the year, which 

 have yellow spots on the back like the Golden 

 Plover, may be distinguished by the black axillaries, 

 and by the presence of a hind-toe. 



