68 



things to be as they are ? It is different with the Pigeons ; the 

 one domesticated is neither so large nor so good as the irreclaim- 

 able Cushat. Why is this ? These are our native birds ; but 

 singular it is, that we should be indebted to America for the 

 Turkey, and to the East for the Fowl, Pheasant, and Peacock. 



I do not for one instant mean that man cannot make pets of 

 hosts of species, and with care successfully keep them, but that 

 is not the point. Can he make them generally and extensively 

 useful to himself and others ? 



THE GOLDEN PLOVER. 



(Reprinted from '* The Field 11 Newspaper, February 7th, 1863.) 



S. S. S. doubts this bird being nocturnal in its habits. Mac- 

 gillivray, who gives a good account of it, says : "In the Hebrides 

 I have often gone to shoot them by moonlight, when they seemed 

 as active as by day, which was also the case with the Snipes ; 

 but I seldom succeeded in my object, it being extremely difficult 

 to estimate distances by night." I have often watched them in 

 the evenings coming to feed on the worms and insects which 

 come out of the ground at that time. The large flocks which 

 frequently remain at rest, if undisturbed, in the middle of the 

 large fallow fields during the day, in the evening separate into 

 small parties, and scatter themselves over the country ; but they 

 do not disperse till it is almost too late to see them, and they 

 generally fly near the ground, and with great velocity. Often, 

 when walking in the dusk where they are feeding, they seem to 

 let you get very near them by the cry they utter when they rise, 

 but it is difficult to see them ; and, as they often rise singly, it is 

 almost impossible to shoot them. The writer above alluded to 

 says the Plovers in the Hebrides do not migrate. Now, although 

 Plovers may be found there during the whole year, it is more 

 than likely that those which have hml there do migrate, and 



