PLOVER. 



479 



eggs or of nestling birds. It costs the bird no small 

 share of artifice to get rid of the crow, because the 

 crow does not seek the bird but the nest ; and where 

 crows, whether the hooded or the carrion, are 

 numerous, they destroy many of the eggs. From 

 quadrupeds there is little to fear ; but if a dog hap- 

 pens to pass, stratagems are immediately resorted to. 

 The bird takes the wing, and alights near the dog, 

 but always in a different direction from that in which 

 the nest is situated. If the dog gives chase, as is 

 always done by a strange cnr upon the moor, the 

 bird rises and flies a little way, then alights, and runs 

 with drooping wing as it' crippled. The cur is always 

 close upon the game, but never comes up with it ; 

 and if he persevere, the sport is continued till he is 

 drawn to a distance from tiie nest, and at the same 

 time quite exhausted. Then the bird whistles loudly 

 to his mate, announcing that all is sate ; and after 

 wheeling round and round the enemy, as if in deri- 

 sion, dashes back to his watch-tower. 



As is the case with those of all ground birds, the 

 young, when they break the shell, are covered with 

 down. At first they cannot run to find their own 

 food as the young gallinidae do ; and one can easily 

 see the reason ; the food of the gallinidae is found in 

 the place where the nest is, while that of the plover 

 is always at some distance. Both parents feed them 

 when they are in this early and helpless stage ; and 

 after they are able to run, which they are long before 

 they can fly, both parents watch them, and entice 

 off the enemy by manoeuvres similar to those already 

 noticed. It is generally said that the shepherds' dogs 

 on the hill occasion no alarm to the plover, or indeed 

 to any of the birds that nestle there. 



It is generally said that the plovers moult twice in 

 the year, the chief moult in the autumn, and a less 

 one in the spring ; and they certainly do change their 

 colours at those times. During the great moult they 

 are both still and silent, and are understood to hide 

 themselves singly in the snow ; and, as the ground 

 is then beginning to be moist, worms are much more 

 easily found than during the drought of summer. 

 When the new plumaire is complete, the birds begin 

 to flock and to move off to their winter-quarters ; and 

 as they do this by stages, and feed well by the vvav, 

 they are very fat and excellent eating. 



THE DOTTEREL PLOVER (C. morincUus'). Both 

 the common name of this bird, and the specific 

 one, imply that it is " a little fool," and, in those 

 places where the birds are well known, " as stupid as 

 a dotterel" is a character very often bestowed upon 

 those who are not over-burdened with wisdom. The 

 name does not apply to the bird in all its localities. 

 When the birds flock they are an easy prey to the 

 fowler ; but when they are upon the breeding-grounds, 

 they are not only not easily captured, but very rarely 

 seen, so rarely, indeed, that though analogy led to 

 the conclusion that thousands of them must have been 

 somewhere in the upland wilds of Britain ever}' year, 

 yet the birds or the eggs have been very rarely found 

 upon the breeding -grounds, and that only of late 

 years. 



The upper parts of the dotterel are blackish-ash 

 colour clouded with greenish, having a dull metallic 

 gloss, arid the margins and tips of the feathers red- 

 dish. The top of the head is dark grey ; the streak 

 over the eyes white ; and the front and cheeks white 

 dotted with black. The breast and flank are reddish 

 white, with a broad band of black on the former, and 



the rest of the under parts are white. The quills 

 have black tips. The bill is black, and the feet are 

 greenish. As is the case with the common plover, 

 the dotterel is subject to very considerable seasonal 

 changes of colour. As in that bird, the description 

 usually given is that of the winter plumage after the 

 autumnal moult ; because, although the birds are 

 seen in vast flocks in this winter dress, it is rare to 

 get a sight even of one in the nuptial plumage, which 

 is that by which the bird ought to be described. We 

 believe it was first seen in this nuptial, or summer 

 plumage, in Siberia, and, as systematic naturalists are 

 always far more anxious to find a species than to 

 establish a truth, it was called the Siberian plover 

 (C. Siberica). In this plumage it has the front and 

 cheeks white without black spots, the occiput black, 

 the hind neck and sides of the neck ash colour, and 

 the middle of the belly black. The length is nearly 

 nine inches, and the weight, especially when the birds 

 flock in autumn and winter, is considerable as com- 

 pared with the lineal dimensions, the weight being 

 then about five ounces. 



It is probable that the greater number, if not the 

 whole of these birds, quit Britain for warmer climates 

 during the winter ; and they make their appearance 

 upon the low and cultivated grounds of the south of 

 England, and the central part of Scotland, nearly at 

 the same time, in the early part of April. They con- 

 tinue coming for several weeks. Their halt is not 

 upon the very richest grounds near the sea, but 

 rather on the cold upland ones which are nearer the 

 moors. At that season they are in packs rather than 

 in flocks ; and these packs keep augmenting for some 

 time ; after which they gradually melt away, though 

 some linger till nearly the beginning of June. They 

 do this in the south as well as the north, if the place 

 where they linger is near an extensive and dreary 

 moor, which would lead one to suppose that they 

 breed in all parts of the country where they can have 

 sufficient hiding, upon the heath-clad downs in the 

 south of England, as well as the secondary ridges of 

 the Grampians in Scotland ; but, as we have said, 

 their manners on the breeding-grounds are every- 

 where so hiding, that there is great difficulty in find- 

 ing them out. One may pass a cold height, half 

 hassock and half mire, where hundreds of them may 

 be, without the slightest chance of seeing one. The 

 eggs are very similar to those of the plover, and 

 arranged in the same manner, only they are consider- 

 ably smaller. The appearance of the young in their 

 early stage is very little known. 



That dotterels breed not only on the southern 

 slopes of the Grampians, but pretty generally in the 

 Scottish mountains, is proved by the fact of their 

 having a Gaelic name. Nor is it a little remarkable 

 that this name should embody the same charge of 

 folly which is implied in the common English one. 

 It has an addition, however, which points to the 

 places in which the nests of the birds are most likely 

 to be found. The name is An tamadan mointich, 

 which literally means " the fool of the peat-bog." 

 Now, these peat-bogs always lie upon the first slopes, 

 very generally where the water parts to run different 

 ways in the hollow between two mountains. Very 

 generally these bogs receive a considerable supply of 

 water even in the most dry time of the year, and 

 they are thus in a great measure proof against the 

 visits of man or quadrupeds. The summer is warm 

 upon them, however, in proportion to their elevation. 



