13S NATURAL HISTORY. 



the length of the head, and is stout as well as hard in character, with a broad nasal groove. The 

 base of the bill is in many species soft, and forms a kind of cere, while the end of the bill is 

 hard and swollen. The wings are pointed and the secondaries are long. The Plovers may be 

 subdivided into three sub-families, the Turnstones, the Plovers, and the Oyster-catchers. 



THE FIRST SUB-FAMILY OF THE PLOVERS. THE TURNSTONES (Strepsilatina). 



The Turnstones are found everywhere, the common species (Strepsilas interpres) being met 

 with all over Europe, and visiting in winter Africa, and even Australia. In South America the 

 Black-headed Turnstone (S. melanocephala) occurs, and the New World contains also two very curious 

 birds belonging to this sub-family, each the sole representative of its genus Aphvrza viryata, and 

 Plumanellus sociabilis. The former of these extends along the Pacific coast of South America, 

 down the continent of South America as far as the Strait of Magellan, while the Pluvlanellus 

 is only known to inhabit the latter locality. 



The Turnstone passes by Great Britain on its way to the north in the spring, but does not 

 breed there. In Norway it nests, however, as well as in high northern latitudes, and the eggs 

 were found near Discovery Bay, the winter quarters of H. M.S. Discovery during the recent Arctic 

 Expedition. In the autumn, on the return journey, they are much more plentiful, and may be 

 often seen in small bunches of four or five, sitting quietly on the muddy shore of a tidal river 

 -or inland harbour. These companies are for the most part composed of young birds, and are not 

 very shy; occasionally single specimens may be met with on some shingly shore, where their 

 colour serves to conceal them entirely, nor is it till the bird suddenly flies up that its presence 

 is detected. 



THE SECOND SUB-FAMILY OF THE PLOVERS. THE TRUE PLOVERS (Charadriintt). 



The Lapwings (Vanellus), the Sand Plovers (sEgialitis), the Grey Plover (Squatarola}, and 

 the Golden Plovers (Charadriiis), are the best known members of the present sub-family, which is 

 distinguished by not having a hind toe, or at most a very small one. The Lapwings have long 

 crests, which they elevate or depress at pleasure, and they are also remarkable for their enor- 

 mous rounded wings. These are the birds which lay the " Plovers' eggs,'"' so often used for the 

 table during the spring, and large numbers are still sent up to London, notwithstanding the 

 prohibition set upon this practice by Act of Parliament. The Lapwing, or " Pee-wit," as it is 

 generally called, is a familiar object in the early days of spring, when it may be seen flying round and 

 round over the fields or downs, uttering the musical cry so peculiar to the species, and tumbling over 

 and over in the air in the most curious fashion. The male bird is the most demonsti^ative, and while 

 the hen walks or stands upon the ground, the cock bird circles overhead, flapping his broad wings, 

 and suddenly dipping down in a headlong direction to where his mate is standing. The pair 

 will then take wing together, and perform extraordinary evolutions in the air, very often feigning 

 lameness, in order to draw away an intruder from the eggs. There is generally no nest, and 

 the eggs are not easily found, being laid upon the bare ground in the hollow of a cut or furrow. 

 If approached, the female will, on quitting the eggs, run along a furrow with her body close to the 

 ground for some distance before taking flight, so as to deceive the observer as to the real position of 

 the eggs. When the female is sitting, or the complement of the eggs is laid, she evinces great 

 affection for them, and both parents wheel round and round uttering cries of distress. They are 

 also crepuscular in their habits, and may be seen still on the wing in the gloaming, while their 

 cry is often heard in the stillness of the summer night. In the autumn they frequent the 

 vicinity of the shore in large flocks, the majority of which are composed of young birds, and 

 they are also gregarious in the winter. 



Perhaps one of the best accounts of the Plover's habits which can be found anywhere is that 

 published by Mr. Henry Seebohm, in Dr. Dresser's " Birds of Europe," after his return from the 

 expedition undertaken by himself and Mr. Harvie Brown, to the Great Petchora River in Northern 

 Russia. During this celebrated excursion the travellers discovered a number of eggs of the Grey 

 Plover (Squatarola helvetica), a species by no means uncommon in England during the spring and 

 autumn migrations, but whose eggs were all but unknown. Altogether, the English travellers found 



