PLUVIALIN^E. PLUVIALIS. 49 



168. PLUVIALIS AUKEA. GOLDEN PLOVER. 



Bill rather slender, nearly as long as the head. In winter 

 the upper parts brownish -black, spotted with yellow, the 

 cheeks, neck, and fore part of the breast, variegated with 

 brown, the throat and abdomen white, as are the axillar 

 feathers. In summer the upper parts black, spotted with 

 bright yellow ; the fore-neck and breast black ; the forehead, 

 a line over the eye, a band bordering the black of the lower 

 parts, and the lower tail-coverts, white. Young when fledged 

 brownish-black, spotted with bright yellow above, and in other 

 respects scarcely different from the adult birds in their winter 

 dress. 



Male, 10}, 22|, 7J, 1, 1ft, I A, A- Female, 10& 22. 



Generally distributed over Britain in the winter season, 

 when it frequents the open plains and ploughed fields, so long 

 as the weather remains mild, but betakes itself to the sea- 

 shore and its vicinity when there is frost. Toward the end 

 of spring they pair and betake themselves to the heaths, 

 where they breed. At this season they are abundant in most 

 of the hilly parts of Scotland and in the Hebrides. The nest 

 is a slight hollow in a dry place among the heath or moss, 

 irregularly strewed with fragments of withered plants. The 

 eggs, four in number, are very large, ovato-pyriform, two 

 inches and a twelfth long, an inch and five-twelfths in breadth, 

 pale greenish-yellow or cream-coloured, irregularly spotted, 

 dotted and patched with dark brown, some light purple spots 

 being interspersed, and the markings larger toward the broad- 

 est part. The young leave the nest presently after exclusion, 

 and conceal themselves by lying flat on the ground. Their 

 parents evince the greatest anxiety in their behalf, feigning 

 lameness to entice the intruder away. When the young are 

 able to fly, the plovers collect into flocks, but remain on the 

 heaths and hill pastures until the commencement of winter. 

 During continued frosts they search the sands and rocky 

 shores of the sea at low water. Great numbers are killed, 

 their flesh affording delicate eating, not much inferior to that 

 of the woodcock. 



Yellow Plover. Green Plover. Grey Plover. Black- 

 breasted Plover. "Whistling Plover. 



Charadrius Pluvialis and apricarius, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. 254. 

 Charadrius Pluvialis and apricarius, Lath. Incl. Omith. ii. 

 740. Charadrius Pluvialis, Tenim. Man. d'Ornith. ii. 535. 

 Pluvialis aurea, Golden Plover, MacGillivray, Brit. Birds, iv. 



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