202 



Order LIMICOL^E. 



Family (EDICNEMID^E. 



GREAT PLOVER. 1 (Edicnemus scolopax (S. G. Gmelin). 



Coloured Figures. Gould, ' Birds of Great Britain,' vol. iv, pi. 

 35 ; Dresser, ' Birds of Europe,' vol. vii, pi. 512 ; Lilford, 

 * Coloured Figures,' vol. v, pi. 4 ; Booth, ' Bough Notes,' 

 vol. in, pi. 13. 



The name ' Norfolk Plover ' has also been given to this 

 species, owing to the fact that it annually resorts to the dry 

 sandy flats and heaths of the maritime counties of South- 

 eastern England, especially Norfolk. Southward, as far as 

 Dorset, it may be regarded as a regular summer-visitor, 

 occurring only in limited numbers. Elsewhere in the 

 British Isles the Great Plover is rare. 



Two examples have been recorded from Scotland ; 

 namely, a bird obtained close to St. Andrews, in January, 

 1858, and another procured in Dumbartonshire, in August, 

 1897 (Saunders). 



Ireland has yielded about eleven specimens, nine of 

 which were taken on the east coast. The most recent 

 record is that of a bird obtained in co. Donegal on October 

 12th, 1903 (D. C. Campbell, 'Irish Naturalist,' 1904, p. 119). 

 The other counties from which the bird has been obtained 

 and the dates of capture are as follows : 



Dublin : One, January 27th, 1829, the earliest record 

 (Thompson) ; another, 1849 (Kinahan, Proc. Dub. Univ. 

 Zool. Soc., 1854) ; a third, 1853 (Kinahan, Proc. Dub. 

 Nat. Hist. Soc., 1860) ; a fourth, January 4th, 1868 (Blake- 

 Knox, ' Zoologist,' 1868) ; a fifth, December 3rd, 1884 

 (More, ' List of Irish Birds ') ; this specimen is preserved in 

 the Dublin Museum. 



1 Also known as the Stone-Curlew. 



