148 THE GAME BIEDS AND WILD FOWL 



Family CHARADEIID^l. Genus CHAKADRIUS. 



Subfamily CHARADRIIN&. 



GOLDEN PLOVER. 



CHABADKIUS PLUVIALIS. Linnatus. 

 PLATE XXII. 



Charadrius pluvialis, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 254 (1766) ; Dresser, B. Eur. vii. p. 435, 

 pi. 515, fig. 1 (1871); Yarrell, Brit. B. ed. 4, iii. p. 271 (1883); Seebohm, Hist. 

 Brit. B. iii. p. 35 (1885) ; Lilford, Col. Fig. Brit. B. pt. xiii. (1891) ; Dixon, Nests 

 and Eggs Brit. B. p. 255 (1893) ; Sharpe, Handb. B. Gt. Brit. iii. p. 143 (1896) ; 

 Seebohm, Col. Fig. Eggs Brit. B. p. 124, pi. 39 (1896) ; Sharpe, Cat. B. Brit. 

 Mus. xxiv. p. 191 (1896.) 



Pluvialis aurea (P. L. S. Miiller), Macgill. Brit. B. iv. p. 94 (1852). 



Geographical distribution. British: The Golden Plover breeds 

 locally in England south of Derbyshire, and in Wales, in fact it follows the moun- 

 tains. A few breed in Devon and Somerset ; and on the heights of Breconshire, 

 amongst other localities, in the Welsh area. From the moors of North Derby- 

 shire and South Yorkshire it becomes more plentiful, and from thence is pretty 

 generally distributed in all suitable localities northwards throughout Scotland, 

 including the Hebrides, the Orkneys, and Shetlands. It occasionally visits 

 St. Kilda. During the winter it is widely dispersed along most of our coast-line 

 and in many inland districts. In Ireland it is widely distributed, breeding on 

 the moors, and frequenting the coasts in winter. Foreign : It breeds on the 

 Faroes and in Iceland, and has occurred on Jan Mayen and Nova Zembla, but is 

 erroneously recorded as from Greenland. The principal breeding grounds are the 

 Norwegian fells, and the tundras of Northern Russia and Siberia, as far east as 

 the valley of the Lena ; and it breeds in smaller numbers on the moors of Holland, 

 Belgium, and Germany, but to the rest of Central and Southern Europe it is 

 known on passage only, a few remaining in these districts to winter. The birds 

 that breed on the Siberian tundras pass through Turkestan and Baluchistan on 

 migration, a few remaining to winter in the latter country, but the majority 

 passing on to spend that season in Africa in the basin of the Mediterranean, the 

 grand winter home of this species. It is a regular winter visitor to the Canaries, 

 a straggler to Madeira, and occasionally wanders in Africa as far south as Cape 

 Colony and Natal. 



