THE GOLDEN PLOVERS. 14* 



Nestling. Clothed in golden down mottled with black, the 

 latter, however, scarcely forming any distinct pattern ; on each 

 side of the back a streak of ashy-whitish down, and the 

 wings marked with a golden patch, with a spot of bright 

 yellow on the lores and eyebrow ; below v the eye a spot of 

 ashy-whitish, with some markings of the same on the hind- 

 neck and sides of the neck ; cheeks and under surface of body 

 ashy-whitish, with a patch of dusky-blackish underlying the 

 down of the breast. 



Range in Great Britain. The Golden Plover nests on the 

 moor-land of all the three kingdoms, a few being found on the 

 higher ground of Devonshire and Somerset. In Wales, and 

 from the Derbyshire moors northward into Scotland the 

 species breeds, sometimes in abundance, especially in the 

 Orkneys, Shetlands, and the Hebrides. " In Ireland," writes 

 Mr. R. J. Ussher, " the Golden Plover breeds on mountains 

 in Donegal, Antrim, Fermanagh, Cavan, Dublin, Wicklow, 

 Queen's County, Tipperary, Waterford, Cork, Kerry, Galway, 

 Mayo, and Sligo. In Connemara it breeds both on moun- 

 tains and bogs, and Mr. H. C. Hart has found it breeding 

 on a vast bog in the centre of Northern Mayo." The species 

 winters in large flocks in many parts of the British Islands, 

 and a large migration takes place every autumn and spring. 



Range outside the British Islands. The Golden Plover nests in 

 the high north of Europe, as well as in Iceland and the Faeroes. 

 It has been found in Novaya Zemlya, Jan Mayen, and in Green- 

 land. It nests also on the moors of Germany, Brabant, and 

 Luxembourg, but in the rest of Europe it is generally known 

 as a migrant, wintering in the Mediterranean countries, and, 

 more rarely apparently, passing down the continent of Africa. 

 To India it is a very rare winter visitor ; Mr. Blanford pro- 

 cured a specimen in Baluchistan in December, and a single 

 example from Sehwan in Sind, killed in January, is in the 

 Hume collection. 



Habits. The clear-sounding note of the Golden Plover is a 

 sure indication of the presence of the bird. Mr. Seebohm calls 

 the alarm-note a plaintive ko, scarcely distinguishable from 

 that of the Grey Plover, and the call-note is a double kl-ee. 

 Mr. Howard Saunders renders it as a clear whistling /////, which 



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