2248 PLOVERS, SANDPIPERS, SNIPE, J AC AN AS, GULLS 



the lapwings. In constructing slight nests for the reception of their four eggs, 

 they likewise differ from the foregoing members of the family. 



The handsome and well-known bird termed the golden plover (C. 

 pluvialis) is the typical representative, not only of the true plovers, 

 but likewise of the entire genus and family. The true plovers, in which the first 

 toe may be absent or present, are collectively characterized by the barred tails of 

 the adults, the black under parts in the breeding dress, and the minute reticulation 

 of the scales of the metatarsus. The golden plover, which attains a length of from 

 ten to eleven inches, is specially characterized by having but three toes, all the tail 

 feathers barred, and the axillaries white. In the breeding dress of the adult male 

 the upper parts are nearly black, spotted with yellow, the forehead, a stripe above 

 the eye, the sides of the neck, the axillaries, thighs, flanks, and under tail coverts 

 being white, with some dusky mottling, while the lores, chin, throat, breast, and 

 abdomen are black. The beak and legs are nearly black, and the iris is dark hazel. 

 In the female the white parts have more dusky mottlings, and the dark under areas 

 are browner, with some white feathers. Breeding locally in Britain and some other 

 districts of Northwestern Europe, this species has its chief nesting haunts on the 

 fields of Norway and the Russian and Siberian tundras, while in winter it frequents 

 the shores of the Mediterranean, whence it wanders as far south as the Cape. To 

 the east of the Yenisei it is replaced by the Asiatic golden plover ( C. fiilvus) , dis- 

 tinguished by its gray axillaries, this species wintering in India, Australia, and the 

 intermediate regions, and being replaced in America by a variety whose breeding 

 grounds are in the northern half of that continent. The second British representa- 

 tive of the group is the gray plover (C. helveticus}, which is a rather larger bird, 

 easily distinguished by the presence of a small first toe and black axillaries, its 

 breeding range comprising the circumpolar tundras beyond the forest regions, and 

 its winter range including Southern Europe, Africa, India, Japan, Australia, Brazil, 

 and Peru. It resembles the golden plover in undergoing a marked seasonal change 

 of plumage. 



The golden plover, whose habits may be taken as typical of those of the group, 

 is a bird of powerful and sustained flight, flying when in flocks in a more or less 

 wedge-shaped formation, and wheeling in the air, especially before pitching on the 

 ground, in a peculiarly graceful manner. On the ground it is also equally active, 

 running and walking with speed, and frequently wading breast deep in the shallows. 

 Frequenting in summer the open moors, heaths, and tundras, in winter it resorts to 

 low-lying marshes, meadows near the sea, and flat coasts; while its Asiatic ally is at 

 that time frequently to be seen on the marshy lakes {jhils} of India. To a certain 

 extent gregarious, even in the breeding season, the golden plover collects in immense 

 flocks in autumn preparatory to its migration, and during the latter period moves in 

 companies which may be numbered by thousands, Mr. C. Dixon stating that, toward 

 the end of October and beginning of November, he has known these birds "fly over 

 from Continental Europe in almost one incessant stream, the flocks succeeding one 

 another so quickly as to form a nearly unbroken throng. ' ' This plover feeds largely 

 by night, but the nature of its food naturally varies somewhat with its seasonal 

 change of habit, in summer consisting largely of insects, and in winter mainly of 



