Young Golden Plover. 



THE GOLDEN PLOVER 



EW birds seem to fit their 

 surroundings better than 

 does the Golden Plover in 

 its breeding haunts. Its 

 softly - uttered cry, tliii, 

 is often the only sound 

 that breaks the oppressive 

 silence of many a lonely 

 stretch of moorland, where there is 

 nothing else alive to be seen, saving 

 the melancholy - looking black - faced 

 sheep, dreamily browsing upon the 

 scanty herbage. 



I have met with it breeding at an 

 altitude above both the dotterel and 

 the ptarmigan on Scottish mountain- 

 tops, and by the sea in the Hebrides 

 and the Shetlands, but always in 

 desolate, out-of-the-way places. 



In the spring males and females alike 

 undergo a remarkable change in the 

 colour of part of their plumage. The 

 feathers from the chin down to the 

 belly turn from a dull greyish white to 

 a deep velvety black. This is accom- 



plished partially by the growth of new 

 feathers, and partially by a change 

 in the colour pigments of the old ones. 



Male and female take turn and turn 

 about in the work of incubation and 

 keeping sentinel, and, as the experienced 

 ornithologist knows full well, no bird 

 is more wary in regard to betraying the 

 secret of the whereabouts of its nest 

 and eggs. Upon the first sign of danger 

 the sentinel softly utters the alarm-note 

 tliii, and the other bird runs away from 

 the nest, and both try their best which 

 generally proves successful to decoy 

 the intruder as far away from their 

 treasures as they can. In these circum- 

 stances I have on many occasions 

 watched a pair of birds for hours in 

 vain, and nearly all the nests I have 

 found belonging to this species have 

 been discovered by accident. 



In addition to the melancholy alarm- 

 note, which is uttered at intervals that 

 add to its mournful character, this 

 species has a much more rapidly uttered 



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