THE GOLDEN PLOVER. 143 



to read the story of the re-discovery of the eggs of the Sqita- 

 tarola helvetica. 



Nest. Practically none. A hollow, round and deep, with a 

 few broken slender twigs and reindeer-moss. 



Eggs. Four in number, and double-spotted. Mr. Seebohm 

 describes them as follows : " Intermediate in colour between 

 those of the Lapwing and the Golden Plover, and subject to 

 variation, some being much browner, and others more olive, 

 none quite as olive as typical Lapwing's eggs or as buff as 

 typical ones of the Golden Plover, but the blotching is in 

 every respect the same. The underlying spots are equally 

 indistinct, the surface spots are generally large, especially at 

 the larger end, but occasionally very small and scattered, and 

 sometimes taking the form of thin strenks. They vary in 

 length from 1*9 to 2'2 inches, and in breadth from 1*35 inch 

 to 1*4. Only one brood is reared in the year." 



THE GOLDEN PLOVERS. GENUS CIIARADRIUS. 



Charadrius^ Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 253 (1766). 



Type, C. pluvialis (Linn.). 



Like the Grey Plover, the Golden Plovers, of which there 

 are two species, have a black face and black breast in sum- 

 mer, but the genus Charadrius is at once distinguished from 

 Sqii'itarola by the absence of the hind-toe. 



The range of the genus is very nearly cosmopolitan, the 

 species breeding in high northern latitudes, and wintering in 

 all the southern continents of the globe. 



I. THE GOLDEN PLOVER. CHARADRIUS PLUVIALIS. 



Charadrius pluvialis^ Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 254 (1766); Dresser, 

 B. Eur. vii. p. 435, pi. 515, fig. i (1871); B. O. U. List 

 Brit. B. p. 157 (1883) ; Saunders, ed. Yarr. Brit. B. iii. 

 p. 271 (1883); Seebohm, Hist. Brit. B. iii. p. 35 (1885); 

 Saunders, Man. Brit. B. p. 531 (1889); Lilford, Col. Fig. 

 Brit. B. part xiii. (1890); Sharpe, Cat. B. Brit. Mus. xxiv. 

 p. 191. 



Pluvialis aurea, Macgill. Brit. B. iv. p. 94 (1852). 



