220 BROADLAND SPORT 



Whilst quietly drifting up the cut large flocks of plover 

 are generally seen shifting from one part of the marshes to 

 another, disturbed, no doubt, by marshmen or prowling 

 gunners ; and it may not be altogether out of place to say a 

 few words concerning these birds which in Broadland are 

 always with us. 



Possibly no other birds frequenting the district afford 

 so much sport or profit to the marshman as plover. The 

 lapwing, peewit, green plover, hornpie, or wipe, as it is called, is 

 most common. There are also grey and golden plover, whilst 

 in certain localities the Norfolk plover, or thick -knee, is by 

 no means rare. Golden plover visit Broadland during the 

 autumn and winter months in large quantities, and are shot 

 by all lovers of the gun, either for market or private con- 

 sumption. Like snipe they are "here to-day and gone 

 to-morrow," so they must be followed immediately they are 

 known to have arrived in the neighbourhood, or they may be 

 off before a shot can be obtained at them. 



A stalking-horse may be used on these birds with great 

 success, no matter whether it be the artificial or the real 

 animal. 



At flight time they are often shot, but as it is their custom 

 to either fly very high in the air or very near to the ground, 

 not nearly so many are bagged as otherwise might be the 

 case. 



When flying overhead at a considerable height, golden 

 plover might often be taken for starlings were it not for the 

 peculiar habit they have of forming themselves into the shape 

 of a V. It is a habit shooters soon notice, and one which wild 

 geese also adopt. Should one be out with a gun and a flock 

 of golden plover passes overhead, do not be discouraged by 

 reason of the height the birds happen to be in the air, but 

 wait until they are nearly overhead, then discharge one barrel 

 in the air so the shot scatters in the thick of them, and they 

 will often all drop to within a yard of the surface of the 

 ground in a most extraordinary manner, as though they had 

 all been hit, but they continue their flight. If the shooter 



