480 



PLOVER. 



and thus they abound with those small animals which 

 serve as food for the dotterels and their broods ; and, 

 from the peculiar nature of the places, the birds 

 breed in safety as well as secrecy. The length of 

 the incubation, and the economy of the breeding- 

 time generally, are not known. They return to the 

 low country in the month of September, and then 

 they are in numerous flocks, which keep very closely 

 together. Even then, however, they appear upon 

 the bleak and bare places rather than the fertile 

 ones ; the lower moors, on the secondary ridges of 

 hills, in Scotland, and the downs and other sheep- 

 walks in England. At this time .they are very fat, 

 und excellent eating. In Scotland they are not much 

 attended to as game ; but the case is different in 

 England, especially in Norfork, where they appear 

 in great numbers, and afford sport for six weeks or 

 two months. On these occasions they show very 

 little fear, and do not move far from the enemy, though 

 they keep up such a succession of rising and alight- 

 ing, that it is not easy to come close up to them. 

 One may come upon the flock on the ground close 

 to each other ; but, even if one comes near, the whole 

 do not rise ; the near ones rise, fly over the rest, and 

 alight in front ; and this may be continued to the 

 edge of the common, or other pasture, the birds 

 apparently taking the matter very easy, but con- 

 triving to keep at nearly the same distances. If 

 followed to the verge, the whole rise, and traverse 

 the common in another direction, but in the same 

 provoking manner ; and one may follow them thus 

 for a whole day, always near, but never reaching. 



They play the same sort of game with a dog, only 

 they play it more rapidly. They let him almost into 

 the flock, then they take the air at very low flight 

 all round him, and he is quite at a loss to which side 

 to turn. Thus they teaze him, till he is quite worn 

 out, by always leaping and snapping at a bird which 

 nearly touches his nose, but of which he is never able 

 to get hold. 



Fowling-pieces are far more successful, as it does 

 not appear that their instinctive resources are ca- 

 pable of affording them any protection against these. 

 They fly very close, so that the most bungling marks- 

 man may make more of the value of his powder, and, 

 by the time that he loads, they will have alighted 

 close at hand, and be ready for another shot. A 

 large flock on a wide down may thus be followed for 

 a whole day, and a great number of them obtained. 

 On foot the sport is rather fatiguing ; and the best 

 way is for two to go in concert on ponies, with 

 assistants to pick up the birds. The gunners take 

 the flock right and left ; and when the one fires, he 

 turns them on the other, who gets an equally good 

 shot. This may be continued for any length of time, 

 if the flock is sufficiently abundant, and, even if the 

 birds attempt to make off, they may be brought back 

 again. In November they disappear even from the 

 south of England, and they leave Scotland sooner ; 

 but where they go, until their reappearance in the 

 spring, is not satisfactorily known, though probably 

 not farther than the south of Europe. In summer, 

 dotterels are very abundant in the wild places of 

 Russia, where they nestle and rear their broods ; and 

 when the moult is over, and all are vigorous, a retreat 

 for the winter is made to the south-east of Europe 

 and the south-west of Asia. The manner of their 

 migratory flight, and the time of the day or night at 

 which it takes place, have not been observed. 



THE RING PLOVER (C. hiatincla}. This is another 

 British species, by no means rare, but peculiar in its 

 localities, and thus not generally seen. It is a bank 

 bird, frequenting the flat shores of the sea, and the 

 barren accumulations of debris in the estuaries of the 

 larger rivers, which places it never quits, summer or 

 winter. It runs along the sand and gravel with 

 much rapidity ; and is arj ornamental bird upon 

 places where, with the exception of a few running 

 birds, few living creatures are apparent. It is indeed 

 one of the few birds that resolutely inhabit the 

 boundary between sea and land all the year round. 



The ring-plover is a small bird compared with the 

 common plover, or even with the dotterel. The 

 length is about seven inches, and the stretch of the 

 wings about sixteen. The male bird, when in the 

 summer or breeding plumage, has the upper part 

 brownish-ash ; the lower cheeks are black, passing 

 up to the base of the upper mandible ; and between 

 the black and the ash-colour, on the crown, there is 

 a band of white passing over the forehead and eyes ; 

 and between this white and the a^h-colour, again, 

 there is a three-cornered patch of black, with an 

 angle directed to the front and one toward each eye ; 

 the chin is white, and the white there goes back in 

 a point under the black almost to the nape ; all the 

 under parts are pure white ; but there is a broad 

 gorget of black on the neck, immediately above the 

 breast, passing into a narrow black collar on the 

 hind neck ; the greater wing-coverts have white 

 tips ; and the quills, which are dusky black, have a 

 white spot upon each, the whole forming a bar across 

 the wing when closed ; the tail is dusky brown, with 

 the exterior feathers and the tips of the rest white, 

 and each feather is pointed or wedge-shaped at the 

 tip. The female has the collar less bright and de- 

 fined, more white on the wings, less on the forehead, 

 and hardly any brownish tinge in the ash-colour of 

 the upper parts. 



This is almost the only land bird which remains 

 upon our lonely beaches in the warm season. It is 

 its plaintive whistle that we hear as we approach the 

 margin of the sea on a sultry day ; and if we happen 

 heedlessly to place our foot on a few eggs, almost the 

 colour of the sand, they are the eggs of the ring- 

 plover. There is not the least vestige of a nest, or 

 even a hole scratched in the sand. They are on the 

 bare surface, and on sunny days the bird leaves them 

 the whole day over ; but she sits at night, and also 

 during the day if it rains. When surprised upon her 

 eggs, she cannot get to a distance by stealth as the 

 common plover does ; but she turns and doubles so 

 very quickly and so many ways, that if her very first 

 movement is seen it is not difficult to find the eggs. 

 Her instinct appears to be to draw attention to herself; 

 and, while she plays off her little arts for this purpose, 

 she utters a feeble and wailing complaint. If you 

 follow her, she will lead you to a considerable dis- 

 tance from the nest, and then take the wing and fly 

 off in a different direction ; but, if you watch her, you 

 will find that she runs to the nest as soon as she 

 alights, though still net in one straight line. 



Ring-plovers pair in May, and the young are 

 generally hatched at the season of greatest heat, 

 when the sand near the high-water mark -is almost 

 alive with little animals. The young run fast the 

 instant that they come out of the shell, but they are 

 then covered with down, and some time elapses be- 

 fore they get their flying feathers and are able to 



