322 THE PLOVERS 



Mayen in summer. On the Continent of Europe it is common on the f jeld of Scan- 

 dinavia, and also breeds on the tundra of N. Russia, south in small numbers to Perm 

 and the Baltic provinces. A few pairs nest on the heaths of N. Germany, Denmark, 

 Holland, Belgium, and Luxembourg, while it is said also to have bred in Switzerland. 

 In Siberia its breeding range extends at least as far east as the valley of the Yenisei. 

 In winter it ranges south over Europe to the Mediterranean region, has occurred 

 as a casual on the Azores, Madeira, and the Canaries, and on the west coast of Africa 

 as far as the Gaboon at any rate. Saunders and Seebohm state that it ranges to 

 Cape Colony, but Sclater does not include it among the birds of S. Africa. In Asia 

 it has been met with in Palestine, and thence to Baluchistan and Sind. [F. c. R. J.] 



3. Migration. Found in the British Isles all the year round. That part 

 at least of our breeding birds are resident within our area seems probable, but some 

 may well be summer visitants. 1 The species is also a winter visitor and a bird of 

 passage from Northern Europe in large numbers. A few unmoulted adults reach 

 our shores early in August, and late in September the young birds arrive in large 

 flocks, followed in October and November by the main body of adults, now moulted. 

 The return movement sets in in March, and continues long after our own birds have 

 begun their nesting duties. The golden-plover is a notably gregarious migrant, the 

 birds sometimes associating with lapwings as well as with members of their own 

 species : migration is at times diurnal, but more often nocturnal. The separate 

 migration of old and young seems to have been well established by Gatke (cf. 

 Vogelwarte Helgoland, Eng. trans., 1895, pp. 106, 465) and others, but is not an 

 altogether undisputed point (cf. Bonhote, Ornis, 1909, p. 168). [A. L. T.] 



4. Nest and Eggs. The nesting-places of this bird are on moors and rough 

 pastures, overgrown with tussocks. Here it breeds sometimes in heather, at other 

 times on the bare ground or in coarse grass, generally slightly elevated, making a 

 depression in the ground, and lining it scantily with bents or bits of heather, or 

 in some cases not at all. (PL in.) Naumann states that the hen makes the de- 

 pression with her feet. The eggs are normally 4 in number, but clutches of 5 eggs 

 have occasionally been found, apparently laid by one hen. They are pyriform in 

 shape, yellowish stone colour in ground, at times with a rich warm tinge, and rarely 

 greenish white, boldly spotted and blotched with brownish black. (PL L.) Average 

 size of 43 eggs, 2'02x 1'35 in. [51'5x34'3 mm.]. The male bird has been shot from 

 the eggs (Zoologist, 1883, p. 58), but Saxby states that he has never known the male 



1 A golden-plover marked as a nestling at Bunacton, Inverness-shire, 21st May 1911, was 

 shot about 13th Oct. 1911, in Co. Mayo, Ireland (Aberdeen University Bird-Migration Inquiry). 



