GOLDEN PLOVEK. 67 



a hard frost, and the re-appearance once more of verdure 

 from under the deep snow, the whistle of the golden 

 plover, as they rise from the fields, sounds cheerily in 

 the bright sunshine of a winter's morning. The expe- 

 rience, however, of old sportsmen and others best 

 capable of judging, indicates a very marked decrease, 

 of late years, in the number of these birds as observed 

 in this county, and even in a locality as little changed 

 in its general features as Thetford warren, Mr. Bartlett 

 informs me that they are seen only in scores instead 

 of hundreds as formerly. About Feltwell, also, they are 

 considered scarce. 



Their southward movements, as is the case also 

 with many of the Tringce, commences fa>r earlier in 

 the autumn than is generally supposed, and, consider- 

 ing also their late stay with us, at times, in the 

 spring, their nesting duties in more northern localities 

 must be performed in a very limited period. It is by 

 no means unusual to hear the well known notes of these 

 birds, at night, by the middle of August, as the van- 

 guard of their migratory forces passes over this county, 

 and stragglers occasionally killed at such times leave no 

 doubt as to the identity of the species. In Mr. Dowell's 

 MS. notes, I find mention of a single golden plover, seen 

 by him at Blakeney, on the 26th of July, 1853, the 

 earliest date of which I have any record ; but the same ac- 

 curate observer noticed several small families in August, 

 1852, frequenting the " freshes" about Blakeney and 

 Morston ; some individuals still retaining their full 

 summer plumage. Mr. Alfred Newton tells me that 

 in 1852 he and his brother Edward saw a small " trip" 



occasion, in the month of December, that he was thereby induced 

 to put off an intended journey. On the next morning, which was 

 calm and mild, the plover had all left ; but, in the course of the 

 night, so great was the fall of snow that the lanes were filled with 

 the drift to the depth of six or seven feet. 



K 2 



