150 Poachers and Poaching. 



eighty plovers are sometimes secured at one 

 raising of the net. 



Flying with the lapwing may often be seen 

 flocks or " trips " of golden plover one of the 

 most beautiful birds of its family, and much less 

 common as a species than the last. Like the 

 rare dotterel it breeds on the highest mountains, 

 and in the nesting season has the golden markings 

 of its back set off by the rich velvety black of 

 its breast. This is an adornment donned only 

 for the summer season, and is changed at the 

 time of the autumnal migration from the elevated 

 breeding grounds to the lowlands. At all times 

 it has a piping, plaintive whistle, which conforms 

 well to the wild solitudes where it is heard. 

 The flocks of golden plover are usually smaller 

 than those of green, and are more compact. 

 When feeding together the two kinds are not 

 easily discriminated. The moment they take 

 wing, however, a difference is detected ; the 

 golden plover flying straight and quick, often in 

 a V-shaped bunch ; the green going loosely and 

 without apparent order. All plover are restless 

 and shifting before a change of weather, and 

 when this is for the worse the golden plover 

 always fly south. They are delicate birds, in 

 fact, and little fitted to withstand the rigours of 

 our northern climate. As a table bird it is more 

 dainty even than the green plover, and fetches a 

 higher price. The death-dealing punt-gun is. 



