THE PLOVERS. 369 



they believing that it has the power, by means of its 

 plaintive and monotonous kirv, kirv, to foretel the approach 

 of that particular wind. 



Pontoppidan also speaks of a bird (not improbably this 

 very plover) on the coast of Norway, the Nordvinds-Pibe, 

 or north-wind piper, possessed of the like faculty ; and of 

 another, the Sondenvinds-Fugl, or the south-wind bird, " so 

 designated, because it is never seen but when the south-wind 

 begins to blow, as the before-mentioned Nordvinds-Pibe prog- 

 nosticates the north-wind ; so that these two species of birds 

 serve here as a living weather-glass, forming their prognosti- 

 cations not from deep consideration and conclusions, but from 

 the greater or lesser pressure of air on their bodies; just 

 as the cat's scratching the trees portends a storm ; not to 

 mention the many almanacks people have about their bodies 

 to tell them when bad weather is coming." 



The Kentish Plover (Hvit-brostad Strand-Pipare, or 

 White-breasted Strand-Piper, Sw. ; C. Cantianus, Lath.). 

 According to Swedish naturalists, this bird is only found 

 on the southern coast of Sweden. It is said to be shy and 

 wary, and quick in its motions ; to live on Crustacea, insects, 

 and worms ; and to make its nest either in a hole in the 

 sand or on a tussock, where the female lays three to four 

 greyish-yellow eggs, marked with ash-grey and black-brown 

 spots. In parts of Denmark it is common. Migrates. 



The Grey Plover (Kust-Pipare, or Coast-Piper, Sw. ; 

 Vanellus griseus, Briss.) was occasionally seen by us on the 

 neighbouring coast during migration. It passes the summer 

 months in the far north, or to the north-eastward, and as it 

 would almost seem, elsewhere than in Scandinavia ; for M. 

 Malm says, that during his sojourn in Lapland, he only met 



VOL. n. B B 



