140 ALLEN'S NATURALIST'S LIBRARY. 



of Grey Plover remain with us during the winter, the species is 

 much better known as a spring and autumn migrant, and is 

 especially noticed at the latter season of the year, when young 

 birds are often procurable. Black-breasted examples are to be 

 found up to the end of May in the British Islands, while some 

 have been shot in June and July. These were probably non- 

 breeding birds. It is never so common in Ireland as in 

 England and Scotland, and is always more abundant on the 

 east than on the west, so that in the Outer Hebrides it is con- 

 sidered a rare bird. 



Range outside the British Islands. The Grey Plover breeds in 

 the high north of both hemispheres, and may thus be considered 

 a typical circum-polar bird. Until recent years its egg was one 

 of the chief desiderata for every collector, and even now but 

 few collections contain genuine examples. It has been found 

 nesting on Kolguev Island, as well as in the valley of the Pet- 

 chora, and on the Taimyr Peninsula in Siberia, while in the New 

 World the only known places are Alaska, the Anderson River, 

 and the Melville Peninsula. In winter, however, it wanders 

 far southward and occurs in nearly every country of the Old 

 World, visiting South Africa, the Indian Peninsula, and Aus- 

 tralia. In the New World it does not range so far to the 

 southward, and appears not to extend beyond Brazil or Peru, 

 though it probably goes to the extreme of the South American 

 continent. 



Habits. The Grey Plover is seldom met with inland, like 

 the Golden Plover, but is decidedly more a bird of the sea- 

 shore and the mud-flats. It is also of a shyer disposition, and 

 is much more difficult than the Golden Plover to call within 

 gun-shot, partly because its call-note is much harder to imitate. 

 In general appearance it is a stout and hardy bird, and may 

 often be seen in great parties on the sand left by the receding 

 tide, picking up its food, which consists of marine insects, 

 small shells, worms, and seaweed. Sometimes flocks of forty 

 or fifty individuals may be seen together, but I have myself 

 only observed it either singly or in small parties of six or seven. 

 Like most Waders, it is active when the receding tide leaves 

 the sand-banks and mud-flats exposed, but at all times appears 

 to be more lively as evening approaches. 



