478 



PLOVER. 



active when the weather is rainy or otherwise moist. 

 Birds are instinctively good prognosticates of the 

 weather, though of course without knowing any more 

 of the matter than almanac-makers, and they gene- 

 rally utter their particular cries before the rain actu- 

 ally comes. In such countries as Britain, the rain 

 very often comes about the hour of the night when 

 the nocturnal atmosphere has made its greatest de- 

 scent. The air is, however, softened, and as soon as 

 this takes place such birds as the plovers are in 

 motion and whistling away at the top of their bent. 

 This circumstance led to the vulgar opinion, once very 

 prevalent, that the plovers are the cause of the rain, 

 which in most cases follows this unusual stir of them ; 

 whereas the fact is, that the coming rain is the cause 

 of the greater activity among the birds. They are 

 not the only birds which have in this way got the 

 name of rain-birds, for the same has been said of the 

 woodpeckers ; and indeed all birds which feed upon 

 small animals that conceal themselves in drought and 

 come out in soft and moist atmospheres, are excited 

 and become active before rain. Instead of bringing 

 rain, the plovers are not, in any sense of the word, 

 aquatic or water birds, for they never go into the 

 water, though they do resort to the soft ground to 

 feed ; yet in their feeding they appear to give the 

 preference to firm surfaces. 



As British birds, there are three species of plover, 

 generally understood to be resident in one part of the 

 country or another all the year round ; but they differ 

 a good deal from each other in their habits. 



THE COMMON PLOVER (C.pluvialis}. This bird is dif- 

 ferently coloured at different ages, and this has not only 

 led to its being called by many names, but to the old 

 and the young being sometimes described as different 

 species. As a British bird it is very common in all 

 places which suit its habits, and it is very generally 

 distributed over other countries. It has been most 

 frequently seen in the winter plumage, and accord- 

 ingly it is usually described by the colours of that. 

 The upper parts are blackish, spotted with golden 

 yellow ; the sides of the head, the neck, and the 

 breast, are ash-colour clouded with yellowish-brown ; 

 the quills of the wings are black, with the ends of 

 the shafts white ; and all the under part is white. 

 The bill is blackish, and the feet grey. The length 

 of the full-grown bird is about ten inches and a quar- 

 ter, and it is a compact bird, and, when in good con- 

 dition, heavy in proportion to its lineal dimensions. 

 Its wings are not very long, but they are firm and 

 Capable of active flight, both on a forward course and 

 upwards and downwards. In the breeding season, 

 the breast (of the male bird at least) becomes of an 

 intense black ; and as the bird was first noticed in 

 this plumage, in places far to the north, it was de- 

 scribed as a different bird from that which flocks on 

 the low fields in autumn and the beaches in winter. 



The common plover always nestles on the dry 

 places of the upland moors, never far from the mires 

 and pools, but not close to their margins. The nest 

 is merely a rude channel scratched in the earth ; and as 

 both the bird and the eggs are very like the ground 

 and the heath and lichen in colour, one may pass quite 

 close to the nest without observing it. They make 

 their appearance, or rather make themselves heard, 

 upon the breeding grounds in the latter part fc of 

 March, or early in April, according to the place 

 and the season ; and it is to be understood that the 

 weather in the place which they leave, not in that to 



which they come, determines their movement. In 

 the more cold and northerly parts of Britain, where 

 the upland forms a striking contrast to the plains by 

 the sea and the beaches, they, as well as the lapwings, 

 often take the hill too early. They do not of course 

 come upon the moors while these are covered with snow 

 or bound up in frost ; but a slight return of the storm 

 sometimes overtakes them, and though they do not 

 tumble about on the wing, and battle with the wind and 

 snow-flakes as the lapwings do, they are, perhaps, put 

 to greater straits for food, as they do not dash about 

 like the others. They appear to pine before they leave 

 their places of winter habitation ; for, although there 

 are often many of them on the same moor, they do not 

 appear in flocks there, even upon their arrival. It is 

 only on rich pastures that they flock ; and as they 

 use the wing but little on the breeding-grounds, un- 

 less they are forced up by danger, each pair take up 

 their ground, which is not invaded by an}' other pair. 

 If the weather is severe they are seldom seen except 

 early in the morning, running from the marshy pools 

 to the cover of the withered grass and heath, in which 

 they are soon lost to observation. If the weather is 

 open the male very soon begins his music. It is a 

 shrill but rather pleasant whistle, began at early dawn, 

 and the ploughmen on the margins of the moor have 

 their reveillie in the whistle of the plover, just as 

 those farther down have it in the song of the lark. 

 The place for the brood is one in which exposure be- 

 comes concealment. It is not in the cover of the 

 grass or heath, but generally in an open and rather 

 elevated place, where one would be the least likely 

 to look for a nest, unless well acquainted with the 

 habits of these birds. The eggs are usually four in 

 number, of an olive-grey colour, blotched and streaked 

 with a dusky tint. They are large for the size of the 

 bird, and they are arranged as those of most of the 

 running birds are, in quatrefoil, with the small ends 

 towards the centre. During the night the female sits 

 closely, and the male stands sentinel at a little dis- 

 tance, but does not give an alarm unless danger is 

 very pressing. When the sun beats strongly and 

 the ground gets warm, the female steals quietly and 

 by a circuitous route from the nest to the feeding- 

 ground, where she continues the whole day if the 

 sun shines unclouded, the heat of the sun being suffi- 

 cient for keeping up the requisite warmth in the eggs. 

 But if rain comes, or even a very dark cloud passes 

 over the sun, she hurries back to her charge in the 

 same circuitous and stealthy manner as she left it. If 

 the feeding-ground is at some distance from the nest, 

 the female performs the greater part of her journey 

 on the wing ; and she displays no small finesse both 

 in rising when she departs, and in alighting when she 

 returns. On her departure she runs crouching for a 

 considerable distance, and then rises and flies back 

 over the nest, and wheels and counter-marches several 

 times before she goes off. On her return she prac- 

 tises the same manoeuvres reversed, flying over the 

 nest to some distance, and running to it after she has 

 alighted. The male, though seldom seen unless when 

 danger threatens, is always on the watch, except early 

 in the morning and late in the evening, which are his 

 feeding-times. He watches the female and the eggs 

 during the night, which is rather an easy task, as there 

 are but few enemies abroad on the plovers' ground 

 then. In the absence of the female during the day, 

 his watch is a little more severe, as crows are very 

 apt to come prowling over the moors iu quest of 



