THE FAMILY OF WADERS. 269 



before their wild traditions are lost. But when 

 geese, widgeon, pochards, ducks, curlews, oyster- 

 catchers, redshanks, dunlins, plovers, snipes, herons, 

 and gulls are barking, quacking, whistling, wailing, 

 and cutting the air with their strong pinions, the 

 concert is what might well be called an uncanny 

 one. 



Plovers, the green or lapwing plovers, unless 

 driven by stress of hard weather, confine themselves 

 to marshy districts, and the fringes of the flooded 

 lands ; and when they are compelled to visit the 

 tide, they leave it again the first opportunity that 

 offers. Golden plovers are far more frequent on 

 tidal flats ; when they are seen there, it is, as a 

 rule, in considerable numbers. The heavy plovers 

 "heavy as lead" is the gunner's term for them 

 the grey plovers, keep to the tide. This is the 

 species of which individual members are so fre- 

 quently mistaken for very fine specimens of the 

 golden plover. The mistake is an excusable one, 

 for the two species, in their winter plumage, to an 

 ordinary observer are very much alike. 



In my wanderings I have met with the green 

 sandpiper, and this beautiful bird at once claims 



