CHARADRID.E. 



collection was indeed in almost perfect summer plu- 

 mage. This curious change of plumage appears to 

 be produced partly by a mere change of colour in 

 the feathers, and partly from moult and a fresh 

 growth of feathers. In a note by Mr. Cordeaux on 

 this subject, in the * Zoologist,' he says that on ex- 

 amining a bird killed in April he found but little 

 change of plumage, but on pulling out the white 

 feathers the young crop appeared underneath, just 

 bursting out from their blue sheaths ; there did not, 

 however, appear to be a sufficient growth of these 

 new black feathers to make up the full summer 

 plumage : probably the deficiency is made up by 

 many of the white feathers being changed by the 

 black pigment : he continues, " In the bird examined 

 a considerable portion, at least two-thirds, would 

 have been entirely new feathers."* In my specimen 

 the colouring process seems to be the most general, 

 as many of the feathers are in process of change, 

 being a sort of dull dusky, more or less margined 

 with white, and the change appears going on much 

 as it does in the series of Linnets before mentioned. 

 Some of the feathers 011 the upper parts also appear 

 to be changing in a similar manner, and to be 

 receiving a brighter and more decided colouring. 



The nest of the Golden Plover is generally a very 

 slight affair, a mere hole in the ground, with a few 



*' Zoologist ' for 1805, p. 9571. 



2? 



