PLOVERS 19 



this country from northern lands and leave us again ; 

 all the birds of this family range wide. As to the 

 countries they visit, some have been mentioned, 

 but to attempt any definite arrangement of flight 

 lines would only be futile ; they are to be found in 

 certain places for a time, and then they leave them, 

 or they are at least supposed to do so ; but the 

 worst of it is, birds have been found breeding in 

 most unexpected places, quite out of all boundaries 

 as given in scientific books on natural history. The 

 less said about this the better. 



I have seen this Plover in its various changes 

 from summer to winter plumage ; the mottlings 

 during these changes on the lower parts are very 

 beautiful. The northern visitors are deeper tinted 

 in their feathering than are our home-bred birds. 

 Those who have watched the changes in Starlings, 

 from their dull nesting plumage to that of the first 

 adult stage, will, I think, be reminded of the spotted 

 and patched plumage when the Golden Plover's 

 plumage is in its transition state. 



Although they breed freely in the northern country 

 and in Scotland, it is not often that they are seen on 

 the hills or moors of southern countries. Great 

 flocks shoot over, and some even settle for a short 

 time, but they are up and away again. A part of 

 one lot settled on a wide common I was walking 

 over ; these preferred the main road that ran through 

 it to run on and pick about in. They were the 

 tamest, or it might have been that they were the 

 most tired-out birds of that species I have ever 



