BIRDS 105 



Partridge (GREY PARTRIDGE). A familiar resident, widely distributed, but 

 local in Scotland, distinguished by having eighteen feathers in the tail. In 

 colour, brownish buff above, with fine black markings ; under parts chestnut 

 and grey; a large horseshoe patch of chestnut on the male bird's breast. 

 Its plump appearance and the swift whirr with which it gets up serve addi- 

 tionally to identify it. 



It has a creaking call-note, heard chiefly in spring " harsh, guttural, and 

 complaining." It nests on the ground, in long herbage, a hedge bottom, or 

 under a bush, laying from ten to twenty eggs of an olive-brown-grey colour. 

 The nest is a scrape lined with leaves and grass, which sometimes are pulled 

 over the eggs when the bird leaves them. It feeds on young shoots and 

 leaves of grass and clover chiefly, and also on insects and their larvae. (For 

 Red-legged Partridge, see next section.) 



Plover, Golden. All the Plovers come under the same category as to size 

 (though they vary in size from the 9 inches of the Dotterel to the I2| inches 

 of the Lapwing) ; and as they have many characteristics in common, it is 

 well that they should be grouped together here. (See also DOTTEREL.) 



The Golden Plover is far more general in the hilly districts of the West 

 of England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland than in the South, for it breeds but 

 sparingly in Devon and Cornwall ; and though a British resident, is practically 

 only a winter visitor in the South. It is recognized by the dark upper parts 

 with their rich golden spots ; its black face and under parts, which have a 

 wide margin of white on each side, from the forehead, behind the eyes, and 

 down to the white tail coverts ; the beak and legs are black, and the foot 

 lacks a hind-toe. A striking seasonal change of plumage takes place in the 

 autumn, the under parts becoming all white, with a tinge of dusky yellow 

 mottlings on the neck. 



The bird utters a shrill, musical note ; its breeding cry is syllabled " Taludl- 

 taludl-taludl " ; its call-note is " Tliii " or " Tliiei." It feeds on snails, slugs, 

 worms, insects, and some herbage ; inland, especially on beetles. 



The nest is a scrape on rough lands, among heather or tussocky grass, 

 sometimes sparsely lined. Four eggs are laid, of a warm stone colour, with 

 blackish spots and blotches. 



Plover, Green (LAPWING, PEEWIT). A familiar and widely distributed 

 species, recognized by its note " Pee- wit," as also by its beautiful recurved 

 crest of black, glossed with green ; its metallic green back and wings, with 

 their coppery lustre ; the black on the throat and breast ; the chestnut on 

 the tail coverts. Otherwise the under body is white, a feature showing dis- 

 tinctly when the bird is in flight, when its broad rounded wings will also 

 be noticed. 



The nest is a scrape in the ground on pasture or marsh lands, generally, 

 I believe, on very slightly rising ground. It is scantily lined with dried grass 

 or roots. 



The neighbouring ground is sure to contain two or three " cock's nests " 



