1/4 THE FOWLER IN IRELAND. 



CHAPTER X. 



Plovers : Golden, Grey, and Green Harbingers of Weather Haunts 

 and Habits Plover-shooting from a Punt Devices for Shooting 

 Plover- netting The Net : How to make and set it Decoy- 

 birds necessary. 



GOLDEN, Grey, and Green are the three best known 

 species of Plover in Ireland 



The Dotterel (Eudromias morinellus) is of rare 

 occurrence, and the Ringed Dotterel (ALgialitis 

 kiaticula) is so common and so generally distributed 

 as to be hardly worth notice. 



It is curious what different opinions prevail in 

 Ireland concerning the three first-named species. 

 Not one shooter in a dozen gives each its proper 

 name. In some localities the Green is known as 

 the Black, and nearly always is the Golden termed 

 the Grey. The latter is frequently alluded to as 

 the " White Plover" or " Sea Cock." It is univer- 

 sally the custom of Irish fowlers to call the Golden 

 the Grey ; one often hears how such a man saw a 

 large stand of Grey Plover, or how, on a certain 

 day, he killed twenty or fifty "Grey" at a shot. This 

 is altogether misleading ; large stands of Grey Plover 

 are never seen in Ireland ; eight or ten even is an 

 unusual number, and three or four far from fre- 

 quent. On the other hand, the Golden Plover is 

 seldom met with in such small numbers ; they vary 



