THE GOLDEN PLOVER 



CHARADRIUS PLUVIALIS 



LOCAL names in surrounding counties : 



STATUS IN BRITISH AVIFAUNA : A summer resident on 

 the moors and uplands from Derbyshire northwards, 

 breeding very locally in the south-west of England and in 

 Wales, becoming more numerous in Scotland and Ire- 

 land ; in winter visits the lowlands and coasts, and is then 

 more widely dispersed, its numbers being increased by 

 migrants. 



RADIAL DISTRIBUTION WITHIN FIFTEEN MILES OF ST. 

 PAUL'S : The Golden Plover is too scarce and local a 

 visitor to the Metropolitan area to excite much interest 

 in the student or lover of London bird-life. It is, how- 

 ever, a regular visitor to " London " either on migration 

 or in winter, and is recorded from Epsom, Kingsbury, 

 Stanmore, and the Wanstead Flats. There are various 

 localities where this species might reasonably be expected, 

 such as marshy meadows, sewage-farms, watercress-beds, 

 and so forth, but its visits, if any, are only accidental and 

 transient. 



In autumn the Golden Plover leaves the moors and 

 mountains of the north to pass the winter on the lowland 

 marshes and the coasts, and it is during these migrations 

 and the return ones in spring that the bird is most likely 

 to be observed in the vicinity of London. Its favourite 

 haunts during winter are low-lying coasts and salt marshes, 

 where it searches for a variety of marine small animals, 

 worms, and grubs, upon which it subsists. It runs nimbly 

 about the ground, living in flocks of varying size, which 

 usually assume a V-shaped formation when passing from 

 one district to another. It retires in March and April 

 to the moors to breed, making a scanty nest upon the 

 ground a mere hollow, lined with a few scraps of dead 



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