THE BOOK OF MIGRATORY BIRDS 215 



wastes. Though numerous in the same localities, they are 

 not gregarious during spring and summer, and are re- 

 markable for their extreme fearlessness of man. So tame, 

 indeed, are they, that in little frequented places, when 

 disturbed by the traveller they will run along the stony 

 ground a few yards in front of him, then fly a few yards, 

 then stand and stare and run as before. On such occasions 

 they frequently utter their singular cry the note so often 

 referred to in Sir Walter Scott's poems which, like the 

 nightingale's song, is considered simply plaintive or pain- 

 fully woe-begone, according to the natural temperament or 

 occasional mood of the hearer. 



This bird builds no nest; a natural depression in the 

 ground, unprotected by bush, heather, or rock, serves its 

 purpose, and here the female lays four eggs, much pointed 

 at one end, and arranges them in accordance with this. At 

 the approach of autumn, no matter where their summer 

 may have been passed, plovers migrate southwards in large 

 flights, those from Scotland to the southern counties of 

 England, where they frequent wide moist pastures, Heaths, 

 and re-claimed marsh-land. 



From the northern parts of the Continent of Europe they 

 take their departure in October, either to the European 

 shores of the Mediterranean or to the plains of Northern 

 Africa. In these migrations they are not unfrequently 

 joined by starlings. 



They travel in close array, forming large flocks much 

 wider than deep, moving their sharp wings rapidly, and 

 making a whizzing sound which may be heard a long way 

 off. Now and then, as if actuated by a single impulse, 

 they sweep towards the ground, suddenly alter the direc- 

 tion of their flight, then wheel upwards with the regularity 

 of a machine, and either alight or pursue their onward 

 course. This habit of skimming along the ground and 

 announcing their approach beforehand is turned to good 

 purpose by the bird-catcher, who imitates their note, 

 attracts the whole flight to sweep down into his neighbour- 

 hood, and captures them in his net, a hundred at a time, 



