364 THE PLOVERS 



after they are born. By the end of July the golden-plovers commence 

 to flock and move southwards from the moors, resorting to the mud- 

 flats, salt-marshes, and seashores. Their ranks are added to 

 continuously as the birds come down from the Highland moors. In 

 September the great flights from abroad take place. 



The order of the autumn migration is the same in both species. 

 The first to arrive are a few old birds still in breeding plumage ; these 

 may appear in August, or as early as the end of July. The young 

 birds follow in the end of August and September, and in October the 

 rest of the adults, clean-moulted and in full winter plumage, appear. 

 Mr. Abel Chapman states of the grey-plover that in Northumberland 

 the main immigration occurs in mid-September, and consists entirely 

 of young birds. He thinks the adults must take a different route, as 

 " the few which are obtained come in August, a month before the 

 young. 1 The bulk of the grey-plovers which migrate by way of our 

 Islands appear to continue their southward passage without a very 

 prolonged stay. There is considerable fluctuation while migration 

 lasts, but by November their numbers are reduced to the regular 

 winter population. They are more numerous on the east than the 

 west, and are rarer in Ireland than in England. In Ireland the grey- 

 plover is seen more often in the north and north-west. 2 It keeps 

 more to the coasts than the golden, and is never seen in large flocks. 

 " Stands " of thirty or forty birds may occasionally be seen, but more 

 often of eight to twelve. Mr. Abel Chapman describes them as 

 sociable rather than gregarious. They associate with the flocks of 

 other Waders two or three may often be seen with the large flocks 

 of dunlins, and Professor Patten has seen small parties with turn- 

 stones, looking for food, after dusk, on the sand. 3 



The autumn migration of the golden-plover is rather erratic : 

 vast flocks were seen in August 1880 and September 1881 passing 

 over Spurn in a northerly direction. 4 Later in the year, flocks move 



1 Bird-life of the Borders, p. 245. 2 Payne-Gallwey, The Fowler in Ireland, p. 175. 



3 Aquatic Birds, p. 233. Yarrell, British Birds, iii. p. 274. 



