480 CHARADRIID^. 



produce two species of Golden Plover ; but the figure of 

 the Golden Plover in Wilson's work exhibits in the beak, 

 in the lengthened legs, and in the extent of the bare part 

 above the joint, as well as some other particulars, the cha- 

 racters of the Golden Plover of Asia ; and one specimen of 

 a Golden Plover from South America at the Zoological 

 Society, is similar to those received from the Society Isles 

 and from Sydney, which do not differ from the Asiatic 

 bird. 



Our Golden Plover lays but four eggs, which are large 

 in proportion to the size of the bird, and very handsome, 

 but it has only one brood in the season. The eggs are of 

 a yellowish stone colour, blotched and spotted with brown- 

 ish black ; the length two inches by one inch four lines in 

 breadth. About the end of May, or beginning of June, 

 Mr. Selby observes, the females begin to lay, making but 

 little artificial nest, a small depression in the ground amidst 

 the heath being generally taken advantage of, and lined 

 with a few dry fibres and stems of grass. The young, 

 when excluded, are covered with a beautiful parti-coloured 

 down of yellow and brown ; they quit the nest as soon as 

 hatched, and follow their parents till able to fly and sup- 

 port themselves, which is in the course of a month or five 

 weeks. The old birds display great anxiety in protecting 

 their young brood, using various stratagems to divert the 

 attention of an enemy. They feed on worms, slugs, and 

 insects in various states. They have a shrill whistling note, 

 and may be deceived and decoyed within shot by a skilful 

 imitation. 



This is supposed to be the note so poetically alluded to 

 by Sir Walter Scott in the Lady of the Lake : 



" And in the Plover's shrilly strain 

 The signal whistle 's heard again," 



startling the midnight traveller by their ominous whistle, 



