234 GRALLATORES. CHARADRIUS. PLOVER. 



till able to fly and support themselves, which is in the course 

 of a month or five weeks. The old birds display great 

 anxiety in protecting their young brood, using various stra- 

 tagems to divert the attention of an enemy ; among others, 

 that of tumbling over, as if unable to fly, or feigning lame- 

 ness, is the most frequent, and appears indeed to be the in- 

 stinctive resort of those birds that construct the nest and rear 

 their young on the ground. When aware of an intruder 

 near, the female invariably runs to some distance from her 

 nest before she takes wing, a manoeuvre tending to conceal 

 its true situation ; and the discovery of it is rendered still 

 more difficult by the colour and markings of the eggs assimi- 

 lating so closely to that of the ground and surrounding herb- 

 age. The usual call-note of the Plover is a plaintive mono- 

 tonous whistle, by imitating which it may frequently be 

 enticed within a very short distance. In the breeding season 

 a more varied call is used, during which it flies at a great 

 elevation, and continues soaring round for a considerable 

 time. Towards the end of August these birds begin to leave 

 the moors (having then congregated in large flocks), and 

 descend to the fallows and the newly sown wheat-fields, where 

 an abundance of their favourite food can be readily obtained. 

 At this season they soon become very fat, and are excellent 

 at the table, their flesh being not inferior in flavour to that 

 of the Woodcock, or any of our most esteemed sorts of game. 

 In these haunts they continue till severe weather approaches, 

 when they either move nearer to the coast or migrate to the 

 southern parts of the kingdom. They fly with strength and 

 swiftness, and if disturbed, when in large flocks, generally 

 perform many aerial evolutions and rapid wheelings before 

 they again settle on the ground. The Golden Plover is a 

 nocturnal feeder, and, during the day, is commonly seen 

 squatted upon the ground or standing asleep, with the head 

 Food, drawn down between the shoulders. Its food consists of 

 earth-worms, slugs, insects, and their larvae, particularly 

 those of the Lepidopterous tribe, many rare species of which 



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