BIRDS OF SOMERSETSHIRE. 



bents twisted round it, but occasionally a more 

 elaborate structure is produced.* 



The food of this species appears to be tolerably 

 varied : it consists mostly of worms, small beetles, 

 slugs and insects, vegetable matter and berries of 

 heath plants.f In hard frosty weather the Golden 

 Plovers resort to the sea-coast, where they feed on 

 the grubs and insects to be picked out of the sand 

 and mud, and on these occasions they are not such 

 good eating as when they feed more inland. 



The plumage of the Golden Plover with which we 

 are best acquainted is as follows : The beak is 

 nearly black; the irides brown; the head, neck, 

 back, scapulars, rump, wing and tail- coverts and 

 tertials are dark brownish black, spotted with yellow ; 

 the sides of the throat are streaked with the same 

 colours; the primary quills are dusky, with very 

 slight tips and edges of dull dirty white ; the chin 

 and throat are white ; the breast is spotted the same 

 as the upper parts, but not nearly so distinctly ; the 

 belly and under tail-coverts are white ; the flanks are 

 barred with dull dusky. In summer the upper parts 

 become brighter and more distinct, the dark parts 

 getting almost black and the yellow much brighter ; 

 the throat, breast and all the under parts are then 

 black, bordered allj round with a little white. The 



* ' Zoologist ' for 1864, p. 9230. 



f Meyer's ' British Birds,' vol. v., p. 170. 



