PLOVERS AND SANDPIPERS. 79 



cannot be regarded as a very remarkable feature of 

 avine life upon the coast ; and it is, doubtless, 

 because they are so little known to the majority of 

 seaside visitors, that they appeal so much less to 

 the popular mind than the more ubiquitous Gulls. 

 But from September onwards to the following 

 spring, Plovers and Sandpipers are the most 

 prominent characteristics of all the more low-lying 

 coasts. We will briefly glance at those species that 

 not only frequent such situations regularly every 

 season, but occur in sufficient numbers to place 

 them beyond the category of abnormal visitors, or 

 storm-driven wanderers from their natural haunts. 



GOLDEN PLOVER. 



This species, the Charadrius pluvialis of ornitho- 

 logists, is, from the regularity of its appearance 

 and its great abundance, known almost everywhere 

 as the Plover of the coast. It derives its trivial 

 name from the profusion of golden yellow drop-like 

 spots which adorn its upper plumage, and may 

 always be distinguished from allied species by its 

 barred tail feathers and white axillaries. Large 

 flights of Golden Plover begin to appear on our 

 low-lying coasts in September, and through October 

 and November the number steadily increases. 

 Many of these birds simply pass along our shore- 

 line to haunts in the Mediterranean basin, but 

 many linger thereon through the winter. One of 

 the great haunts of this Plover is along the shores 



