GOLDEN TLOVER. 451 



Museum of the Zoological Society differ from our British 

 bird, and appear to me to be identical with the Golden 

 Plover found in Asia, to be hereafter referred to. North 

 America may produce two species of Golden Plover ; 

 but the figure of the Golden Plover in Wilson's work 

 exhibits in the beak, in the lengthened legs, and in 

 the extent of the bare part above the joint, as well as some 

 other particulars, the characters of the Golden Plover of 

 Asia, and one specimen of a Golden Plover from South 

 America at the Zoological Society, is similar to those 

 received from the Society Isles and from Sydney, which do 

 not differ from the Asiatic bird. 



Our Golden Plover lays but four eggs, which are large 

 in proportion to the size of the bird, but it has only one 

 brood in the season. The eggs are of a yellowish stone 

 colour, blotched and spotted with brownish black ; the 

 length two inches by one inch four lines in breadth. About 

 the end of May, or beginning of June, Mr. Selby observes, 

 the females begin to lay, making but little artificial nest, a 

 small depression in the ground amidst the heath being 

 generally taken advantage of, and lined with a few dry 

 fibres and stems of grass. The young, when excluded, are 

 covered with a beautiful parti-coloured down of yellow and 

 brown ; they quit the nest as soon as hatched, and follow 

 their parents till able to fly and support themselves, which 

 is in the course of a month or five weeks. The old birds 

 display great anxiety in protecting their young brood, 

 using various stratagems to divert the attention of an 

 enemy. They feed on worms, slugs, and insects in various 

 states. They have a shrill whistling note, and may be 

 deceived and decoyed within shot by a skilful imitation. 



In autumn the various broods associate, forming flocks, 

 and together wing their way southwards. They are ob- 



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