

ASIATIC GOLDEN PLOVER. 43 



flocks, and directly after its arrival it is said to be very tame, but eventually 

 gets much shyer, although it is never a very wary bird. Captain Legge 

 says that in Ceylon, where great numbers of this bird winter, it is very 

 fond of frequenting bare fields, and is usually found in flocks composed 

 of about thirty or forty individuals, which spread themselves over a 

 considerable extent of ground, running hither and thither and every now 

 and again snapping at the insects as they flit past. It congregates in vast 

 flocks on the muddy shores of that island, where its movements are said 

 to be greatly affected by rain. Like its European representative it often 

 associates with other Waders, and in Ceylon is almost always seen in 

 company with the Mongolian Sand-Plover. It possesses the peculiar 

 habit of running a little way when approached and then standing still, 

 with its body turned away from the observer and its head twisted on one 

 side, where it will remain for some time, when, if still pursued, it runs a 

 little distance with outspread wings and then flies away. The whole flock 

 when alarmed sometimes fly with great rapidity, swooping down to the 

 earth and then rising again. In their winter-quarters in Borneo it is said 

 that they frequent the bare muddy places where buffaloes bathe, and when 

 disturbed that they generally perch in some bare stony place. Swinhoe 

 found this species in China in the dry rice-fields and sweet-potatoe gardens, 

 as well as on the beach. They appear to journey to and from their 

 breeding-grounds in large flocks. 



The adult Asiatic Golden Plover in full breeding-plumage only differs 

 from the same plumage of the Golden Plover in having grey instead of 

 white axillaries. After the autumn moult, which progresses very slowly 

 beginning in August and frequently lasting until November, the winter 

 plumage is assumed : this differs widely from that of the Golden Plover 

 though it resembles very closely that of the Grey Plover, the spotted 

 feathers of the upper parts being replaced by feathers having yellow 

 margins. Young in first plumage resemble on their upper parts adults 

 in spring plumage, except that the tail-feathers, instead of being dark 

 brown with transverse bars of pale brown, are uniform dark brown with 

 marginal yellow spots. The underparts of the young in first plumage 

 resemble very closely those of adults in winter plumage, but are more 

 suffused with yellow, and the flanks are obscurely barred with brown. In 

 this species it seems that the young moult at the same time as their 

 parents, so that during their first winter they are in the plumage of birds 

 of the year, which only differs from that of the adult in being more 

 suffused with yellow on the underparts. The young in down are scarcely 

 distinguishable from the young in down of the Golden and Grey Plovers. 

 The Asiatic Golden Plover may be distinguished at all ages and seasons 

 from all its allies, except the American Golden Plover, by its grey 

 axillaries. 



