CHAPTER XIX. 



GOLDEN PLOVER. CHARADRIUS PLUVIALIS. 

 HABITS, NOMENCLATURE, ETC. 



This Bird is more beautiful in its plumage than tlie other 

 variety, but somewhat smaller ; it is also far less numerous ; its 

 habits are pretty much the same, perhaps more Gregarious, as 

 they are often seen in considerable flocks on the seaboard. The 

 notes of the Golden Plover are less shrill and piping than those 

 of the Black-Bellied Plover; they are less timid and easily de- 

 coyed. These Birds are often taken for the young of the other 

 variety — they are known as " Frost Birds" in the neighborhood 

 of New York, from the circumstance of their being more numer- 

 ous about the time of the early frosts of Autumn, when they are 

 also in good condition. The Golden Plover resorts to the up- 

 land meadows in search of berries and grasshoppers, both of 

 which it is very partial to. The flesh of this Bird in the early 

 Autumn is most excellent, and they always command a good 

 price when exposed for sale in our markets. As the weather 

 gets cold they pass on to the far South. They breed in regions 

 beyond the United States ; they are never very numerous in 

 the Middle or Eastern States, and their flesh being savory, they 

 are highly prized.* 



DESCRIPTION. 



" The Golden Plover is ten inches and a half long, and twenty- 

 one inches in extent ; bill short, of a dusky slate color ; eye 

 very large, blue-black ; nostrils placed in a deep furrow, and 



* The Golden Plover frequents the sea-coast of the Middle and Eastern States 

 in the spring, and early summer ; during the autumn they resort to the Prairies 

 and interior feeding-grounds. 



