GOLDEN AND GREY-PLOVERS 361 



yards distant, uttering occasionally the single note " tu " or " tui," both 

 on her way to the nest and whilst sitting. He heard afterwards from a 

 keeper that when the young were hatched out, on June 4th, the male 

 appeared, and assisted the female in looking after the brood. The 

 male was easy to distinguish, having much more black on the breast 

 and throat. 



On the other hand, four birds shot from the nest by the Rev. H. 

 H. Slater all proved on dissection to be males. 1 Seebohm also 

 records shooting a male from eggs, 2 and in the fourth edition of 

 Yarrell it is stated that " Mr. R. Collett shot one a male from four 

 eggs on 14th June 1872 in the valley of the Maalselv, in Norway, the 

 female not being observed." 3 Of the grey-plover one bird shot from 

 the nest in Kolguev was a male, 4 but Mr. Trevor-Battye never found 

 the male brooding. 5 Harvie-Brown and Seebohm shot several females 

 from the nest, but at the first nest they found the bird shot as it 

 was apparently coming to the nest was a male. 6 



The relative behaviour of males and females of both species alter 

 as the season advances. When the eggs are first laid, the male 

 stands, silent for the most part on an eminence at some distance 

 from the nest, while the female is anxious and restless, running 

 backwards and forwards near the nest uttering an alarm-note. As 

 incubation progresses the anxiety of the male increases. He warns his 

 sitting mate of the slightest danger, and flies up noisily calling, whilst 

 the female profits by the diversion thus caused to slip from the nest 

 and run stealthily away. She then flies up and joins the male, and the 

 two fly round the head of the intruder, with constant repetition of 

 their plaintive notes. Occasionally they will alight on the ground, run 

 rapidly to and fro, stopping at intervals and standing very upright, 

 and gaze anxiously at the disturber of their peace. They have a 

 funny way of running sideways, even backwards, in order to keep an 



1 Slater, British Birds, their Nests and Eggs, v. p. 77. 



1 Seebohm, British Birds, iii. p. 38. 3 Yarrell, British Birds, iii. p. 273. 



4 Slater, op. cit., v. p. 82. 6 Icebound on Kolguev, p. 432. 



6 Ibis, 1876, p. 222. 



