CHAP. XV. 



GREY PLOVER. 



1S1 



before other plovers rose ; and we determined to commence 

 a diligent search for the nest, and offered half a rouble to 

 any of our men who should find one. Oar interpreter 

 laughed at us, and marched away into the tundra with a 

 " C'est impossible, monsieur." We appealed to our Sa- 

 moyede, who stroked his beardless chin, and cautiou-lv 

 replied, ' ; Mozhna." The other men wandered aimlessly up 

 and down; but the Samoyede tramped the ground sys- 

 tematically, and after more than an hour's search found a 

 nest on one of the dry tussncky ridges intersecting the bog, 

 containing four eggs about the size and. shape of those of the 

 golden plover, but more like those of the lapwing in colour. 

 The nest was a hollow, evidently scratched, perfectly round, 

 somewhat deep, and containing a handful of broken slender 

 twigs and reindeer-moss. Harvie-Brown concealed himself 

 as well as he could behind a ridge, to lie in wait for the bird 

 returning to the nest, and after half an hour's watching shot 

 a veritable grey plover. Soon afterwards another of our 

 men found a second nest, also containing four eggs, in 

 exactly a similar situation. Harvie-Brown took this nest 

 also in hand, and in about an hour succeeded in shootino- 

 the female. The third nest was found by the Samoyede. 

 This time I lay down behind a ridge some thirty yards from 

 the nest, and after waiting a quarter of an hour caught sight 

 of the bird on the top of a distant tussock. Presently she 

 ran nearer to another ridge, looked round, and then ran on 



South Africa, India. South China, the 

 islands of the Malay Archipelago, and 

 Australia. In the western hemisphere 



its range has not been so accurately 

 recorded, but it is known to winter in 

 Cuba and some parts of South America. 



