GOLDEN PLOVER. 35 



CHARADRIUS PLUVIALIS. 



GOLDEN PLOVER. 



(PLATE 25.) 



Charadrius apricarius, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 150 (1758) ; Bechst. Naturg. Deutschl. iii. 



p. 203 (1793). 

 Pluvialis aurea, Briss. Orn. v. p. 43, pi. iv. fig. 1 (1760) ; Macgitt. Hist. Brit. B. iv. 



p. 94 (1852). 

 Charadrius pluvialis, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 254 (1766) ; et auctorum plurimorum 



Latham, Gmelin, Temminck, Salvin, Saunders, Dresser, &c. 

 Charadrius aureus (Briss.), Mull. Natursyst. Suppl. p. 118 (1776). 

 Charadrius auratus, Suckow, Naturg. der Thiere, ii. p. 1592 (1801). 

 Charadrius altifrons, Brehm, Vog. Deutschl. p. 542 (1831). 

 Pluvialis apricarius (Linn.), Bonap. Cat. Met. Ucc. Eur. p. 57 (1842). 



The Golden Plover is very local in England, during the breeding-season, 

 south of Derbyshire. It is said to breed in the extreme south-west of 

 England and in several localities in Wales, but its true home is on the 

 moors and mountains of the north. In all suitable situations, from the 

 Grouse-moors of Derbyshire northwards to the Orkney and Shetland 

 Islands, it is more or less abundant during summer. In winter it is much 

 more widely dispersed, frequenting all the coasts and many of the inland 

 districts. In Ireland it is generally distributed, breeding on all the 

 suitable moors and high lands. 



The chief breeding-places of the Golden Plover are the fjelds of Norway 

 and the tundras of Russia and Siberia as far east as the valley of the 

 Yenesay; it also breeds sparingly on similar ground as far south as 

 the moors of Holland, Belgium, and North Germany. In the rest of 

 Central and Southern Europe it is principally known as passing through 

 on migration, a few remaining over the winter. Its principal winter- 

 quarters are the basin of the Mediterranean, whence it occasionally straggles 

 to Madeira and as far south as the Cape. The Siberian birds appear to 

 pass through Turkestan on migration, a few remaining to winter in 

 Baluchistan ; but the greater number probably migrate as far as Africa. 

 It is a common summer visitor to Iceland and the Faroes, and has been 

 said to have occurred in Greenland. In the valley of the Yenesay a nearly 

 allied species (C. fulvus) breeds, which, as it has once occurred in our 

 islands and also in Heligoland, is included in the British list. 



The true haunt of the Golden Plover is on the wide far-extending moors 

 and open wastes, on the mountain-heaths and breezy uplands. It is a bird 



D2 



