578 THE BIRDS OF YORKSHIRE. 



common on the moorlands near Barnsley ; and is frequently to be 

 obtained in the markets at York ; it is met with at Hambleton. A. 

 Strickland remarks that considerable flocks of this bird and the Grey 

 Plover* are occasionally met with on the Wolds in autumn in immature 

 plumage, and at times in small numbers on the sea shore in winter, 

 but he has never met with it in mature plumage in this country. 



As a resident in Yorkshire the Golden Plover is local 

 and restricted to the fells and moorlands of the south, 

 west, and north-west, including also the Cleveland Hills 

 and the range of moors extending thence to Scarborough. 

 The area of ground thus comprising its summer habitat 

 being of great extent, the numbers of nesting birds may 

 appear to be fewer than is really the case ; it is sparingly 

 distributed in the south and west, and is perhaps more 

 abundant in the north-west of the North Riding than in 

 other places. It arrives at its breeding quarters in March 

 or April, and departs thence in August, soon after the com- 

 mencement of Grouse shooting. The earliest immigrants 

 which appear on the coast are a few old birds in faded plumage 

 late in July or early in August, and these are followed in 

 September by other flocks of young and old, which continue 

 to increase as the season advances, the main migration usually 

 taking place in November. In the low grounds and Carrs of 

 East Yorkshire they are to be seen in large numbers : should 

 wet weather supervene, and the Carrs become flooded, these 

 vast flocks join together into enormous congregations, and 

 acres of ground are covered with them. They frequent the 

 low ground by day, but in the dusk betake themselves to the 

 high Wolds for the night, returning again shortly after day- 

 break. 



Towards the end of the year, especially if severe frost 

 and snow prevail, immense numbers of these birds congregate, 

 together with Lapwings, in the fields and marshes near the 

 coast, but, with a long continuance of hard weather, they 

 are driven southward ; on I2th December 1878, during a 

 winter of Arctic severity, the sands and muds at the Tees- 

 mouth were absolutely covered with Plovers at low tide ; 



* See remarks on Grey Plover under the heading of that species. 



