PLATE I 

 GOLDEN PLOVER. Charadrius piu-uialis 



June -yd, 1893. We walked right up to this nest as we came over a ridge 

 of sandhills on Tents Muir, Fifeshire. The bird was sitting, and rose almost 

 at our feet, uttering her plaintive whistle as she flew away. The nest was a 

 mere depression in the ground on the sunny side of a sloping sandy knoll, 

 and was very scantily lined with a few bits of bent, moss, and grass. The 

 Cggs were very handsome and beautifully marked ; the ground colour was a 

 pale, yellowish green, and the markings were rich purple black and red brown, 

 and grey under-markings. One of the eggs was much shorter and rounder 

 than the others. 



As it was about lunch-time we halted here, and I took two photographs 

 of the nest and its surroundings, and packed the eggs in my camera case. 

 The old bird soon returned, and we saw her running round and round at a 

 respectful distance, taking a short flight every now and then, and continually 

 uttering her alarm-note. Her mate did not put in an appearance. 



The Golden Plover is a very tiresome bird to watch to its nest ; its 

 plumage is so like the colour of the surroundings that it is a great strain on 

 the eyes to follow its movements, and if lost to sight for a few minutes it 

 is almost impossible to pick it up again. It will run a short distance in a 

 stooping position, and stand, with head erect, on the top of some little 

 tussock for five minutes, then run a little farther, or perhaps retrace its last 

 steps, stand again, and so on. At last it settles, as you think, slightly 

 raising its wings ; you give it a few minutes' grace, and just as you are about 

 to walk forward to the place it moves off again, and it may be fully half an 

 hour before it finally settles on its nest. 



2 D 101 



