308 



THE PLOVERS 



other refuse accumulated at high-water mark are intended, then it is 

 wrong to call them marine, as much so as to call a sparrow marine 

 that has built its nest on a pier-roof. 



The usual call-note of the golden-plover is a musical double 

 whistle. It is suitably rendered by Naumann " tlui" or sometimes 

 trisyllabic "tluei." Other renderings are "del-wee, del-wee'" 1 and 

 kl-ee. 2 The alarm-note is shorter ; Dr. Heatherley renders it " tu " 

 (as in French), also "tin" and " tui" 3 Naumann gives "Hi" and 

 Seebohm a plaintive " M" 4 The same author describes the spring song 

 of the male as the call-note uttered so quickly as to become a trill. 

 It is syllabled by Naumann as " taludl-taludl-taludl-taludl" Mr. Abel 

 Chapman describes another note uttered in early spring as " tirr-pee- 

 you" and states that it almost ceases when the eggs are laid. 5 



Messrs. Harvie-Brown and Seebohm, in their original account of 

 the nesting habits of the grey-plover, could not agree as to how to 

 render the various notes, and so wisely limited themselves to a 

 description. The notes were described as three in number. The call- 

 note a double whistle, the first part short and the second drawn out ; 

 the alarm-note a single plaintive whistle, about half a note higher than 

 that of the golden-plover ; and the breeding-note of the male a treble 

 whistle a combination of the call and alarm-notes the second 

 syllable having a lower intonation than the first and third. This last 

 is not so commonly used, and appears to be the call-note of the males 

 to one another when flying apart from the females, and generally when 

 flying high. 6 Free from the restraining influence of Harvie-Brown, 

 Seebohm afterwards put these notes into words in his History of 

 British Birds, as follows : "Kl-ee " or " kleep" " kop " (the " o " in German), 

 and " kl-ee-kop" respectively. 7 The call-note has also been rendered 

 "Uee-k'h" or " chee-ee," 8 and by Baron Droste Hiilshoff as "ti/j-e-ih? 

 which he says cannot be mistaken for the " tlili " of the golden-plover. 



1 Patten, Aquatic Birds, p. 227. 



3 Country Life, August 26, 1905, p. 284. 



6 Bird-life of the Borders, p. 28. 



7 Seebohm, British Birds, iii. p. 52. 



2 Seebohm, British Birds, iii. p. 37. 

 4 Seebohm, British Birds, iii. p. 37. 

 6 Ibis, 1876, p. 222. 

 8 Patten, Aquatic Birds, p. 233. 



