THE GOLDEN PLOVER 197 



home of many migratory birds. In winter they are almost 

 deserted of bird-life only the Eed Grouse lives upon them ; 

 but with the budding springtime every part of their broad 

 expanse becomes the chosen retreat of various birds. None 

 of these are more obtrusive than the Golden Plover. He 

 loves the broad hollows which are full of swamps and reed 

 tufts, studded with patches of heather, and here and there 

 with little pools of clear sparkling water, on whose banks 

 small willows and a few silver birches find root. Or you 

 may meet with him still higher up the hillsides, on the 

 very summits of the smaller mountains, where ground fruits 

 flourish, and the soft peaty soil is furrowed with countless 

 ridges, which in wet weather become tiny rills. Here the 

 ground is almost as uneven as a restless sea, thickly clothed 

 with coarse vegetation ; endless little hillocks and hollows, 

 tufts of cotton grass and rushes, patches of bilberries and 

 cranberries, and here and there a few bushes of heather. As 

 soon as you set foot on this wide expanse of wilderness, the 

 Golden Plovers rise into the air and protest against the 

 intrusion of their solitudes. If it be early spring you may 

 chance to see the birds in flocks which have not yet broken 

 up into pairs, and then they are more wild than usual, and 

 often soar to a great height, and wheel round and round above 

 your head uttering their wild expressive notes. A week or 

 so later these flocks have vanished, and the birds will only 

 be met with in scattered pairs, as you may chance to intrude 

 upon their breeding grounds. Then the Golden Plover loses 

 much of its accustomed shyness, and often runs up and down 

 over the little mounds, or stands looking at you from the 

 summit of a tuft of grass. How daintily they poise on 

 these little summits, or trip into the hollows ; now flying 

 a little way, and then alighting again with uplifted wings 

 to run some distance or stand a few seconds before finally 

 folding them! And then how beautifully their speckled 



