THE GOLDEN PLOVER 341 



books, might be forgiven for setting down the two forms of the 

 bird as distinct species. 



In the hilly districts of the north of Europe, Golden Plovers are 

 numerous, sometimes being, with Ptarmigans, the only birds which 

 relieve the solitude of the desolate wastes. Though numerous in 

 the same localities, they are not gregarious during spring and 

 summer, and are remarkable for their fearlessness of man. So 

 tame, indeed, are they that, in little-frequented places, when dis- 

 turbed by the traveller they will run along the stony ground a few 

 yards in front of him, then fly a few yards, then stand and stare 

 and run along as before. On such occasions they frequently utter 

 their singular cry — the note so often referred to in Sir Walter Scott's 

 poems — which, like the Nightingale's song, is considered simply 

 plaintive or painfully woe-begone, according to the natural tem- 

 perament or occasional mood of the hearer. This bird builds no 

 nest ; a natural depression in the ground, unprotected by bush, 

 heather or rock, serves its purpose, and here the female lays four 

 eggs, much pointed at one end, and arranges them in accordance 

 with this. 



At the approach of autumn, no matter where their summer may 

 have been passed, Plovers migrate southwards in large flights, 

 those from Scotland to the southern counties of England, where 

 they frequent wide moist pastures, heaths, and reclaimed marsh- 

 land. From the northern parts of the continent of Europe they 

 take their departure in October, either to the European shores of 

 the Mediterranean, or to the plains of Northern Africa. In these 

 migrations they are not unfrequently joined by Starlings. They 

 travel in close array, forming large flocks much wider than deep, 

 moving their sharp wings rapidly, and making a whizzing sound 

 which may be heard a long way off. Now and then, as if actuated 

 by a single impulse, they sweep towards the ground, suddenly alter 

 the direction of their flight, then wheel upwards with the regularity 

 of a machine, and either alight or pursue their onward course. 

 This habit of skimming along the ground and announcing their 

 approach beforehand, is turned to good purpose by the bird-catcher, 

 who imitates their note, attracts the whole flight to sweep down 

 into his neighbourhood, and captures them in his net, a hundred 

 at a time, or, when they are within range, has no difficulty in killing 

 from twelve to twenty at a shot. Not unfrequently, too, when 

 some members of a flock have been killed or wounded, the remainder, 

 before they remove out of danger, wheel round and sweep just over 

 the heads of their ill-fated companions, as if for the purpose of 

 inquiring the reason why they have deserted the party, or of alluring 

 them to join it once more. This habit is not peculiar to Plovers, 

 but may be noticed in the case of several of the seaside waders, 

 as Dunlins and Sanderlings. In severe winter weather they desert 

 the meadows, in which the worms have descended into the ground 



B.3. B 



