Food. 
234 GRALLATORES. CHARADRIUS. PLOVER. 
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 stra- 
tagems to divert the attention of an enemy ; among others, 
that of tumbling over, as if unable to fly, or feigning lame- 
ness, is the most frequent, and appears indeed to be the in- 
stinctive resort of those birds that construct the nest and rear 
their young on the ground. When aware of an intruder 
near, the female invariably runs to some distance from her 
nest before she takes wing, a manceuvre tending to conceal 
its true situation; and the discovery of it is rendered still 
more difficult by the colour and markings of the eggs assimi- 
lating so closely to that of the ground and surrounding herb- 
age. The usual call-note of the Plover is a plaintive mono- 
tonous whistle, by imitating which it may frequently be 
enticed within a very short distance. In the breeding season 
a more varied call is used, during which it flies at a great 
elevation, and continues soaring round for a considerable 
time. Towards the end of August these birds begin to leave 
the moors (having then congregated in large flocks), and 
descend to the fallows and the newly sown wheat-fields, where 
an abundance of their favourite food can be readily obtained. 
At this season they soon become very fat, and are excellent 
at the table, their flesh being not inferior in flavour to that 
of the Woodcock, or any of our most esteemed sorts of game. 
In these haunts they continue till severe weather approaches, 
when they either move nearer to the coast or migrate to the 
southern parts of the kingdom. They fly with strength and 
swiftness, and if disturbed, when in large flocks, generally 
perform many aérial evolutions and rapid wheelings before 
they again settle on the ground. The Golden Plover is a 
nocturnal feeder, and, during the day, is commonly seen 
squatted upon the ground or standing asleep, with the head 
drawn down between the shoulders. Its food consists of 
earth-worms, slugs, insects, and their larve, particularly 
those of the Lepidopterous tribe, many rare species of which 
3 
