DOTTERELS. 479 



abdomen are black. The beak and legs are nearly black, and the iris is dark hazel. 



In the female the white parts have more dusky mottlings, and the dark under areas 



are browner, with some white feathers. Breeding locally in Britain and some 



other districts of North- Western Europe, this species has its chief nesting-haunts 



on the fjelds of Norway and the Russian and Siberian tundras ; while in winter it 



frequents the shores of the Mediterranean, whence it wanders as far south as the 



Cape. To the east of the Yenesei it is replaced by the Asiatic golden plover (C. 



fvlvus), distinguished by its grey axillaries; this species wintering in India, 



Australia, and the intermediate regions, and being replaced in America by a 



variety whose breeding-grounds are in the northern half of that continent. The 



second British representative of the group is the grey plover {C. helveticus), which 



is a rather larger bird, easily distinguished by the presence of a small first toe and 



the black axillaries ; its breeding-range comprising the circumpolar tundras beyond 



the forest regions, and its winter range including Southern Europe, Africa, India, 



Japan, Australia, Brazil, and Peru. It resembles the golden plover in undergoing 



a marked seasonal change of plumage. 



The golden plover, whose habits may be taken as typical of those of the group, 



is a bird of powerful and sustained flight, flying when in flocks in a more or less 



wedge-shaped formation, and wheeling in the air, especially before pitching on the 



ground, in a peculiarly graceful manner. On the ground it is also equally active, 



running and walking with speed, and frequently wading breast-deep in the shallows. 



Frequenting in summer the open moors, heaths, and tundras, in winter it resorts to 



low-lying marshes, meadows near the sea, and flat coasts ; while its Asiatic ally is 



at that time frequently to be seen on the marshy lakes (jhils) of India. To a 



certain extent gregarious, even in the breeding-season, the golden plover collects in 



immense flocks in autumn preparatory to its migration, and during the latter period 



moves in companies which may be numbered by thousands, Mr. C. Dixon stating 



that, towards the end of October and beginning of November, he has known these 



birds " fly over from Continental Europe in almost one incessant stream, the flocks 



succeeding one another so quickly as to form a nearly unbroken throng." This 



plover feeds largely by night, but the nature of its food naturally varies somewhat 



with its seasonal change of habit, in summer consisting largely of insects, and in 



winter mainly of various small aquatic animals. In Britain the breeding-season 



commences about the middle of May, the nest being formed of dry herbage, with 



scraps of heath and moss, and situated either in a hole in the ground, on a tuft of 



herbage, under the shelter of a bunch of cotton-grass, or, more rarely, among short 



grass or heath. The eggs are very like those of the lapwing, from which they may 



be distinguished by their superior size, the absence of olive in their markings, and 



their brighter colour. The parent birds are adepts in the art of inveigling away 



the intruder from the neighbourhood of their eggs or young, the latter scattering 



themselves in all directions at the first alarm, to seek protection by skulking among 



the surrounding herbage. 



The dotterels, of which the typical forms have but three toes, 

 Dotterels. . "^ ^ 



and, as already said, are frequently separated under the name of 



Eudromias, are smaller birds, forming a somewhat heterogeneous group, with but 



few distinctive common characters, although none of them have the tail barred. 



