l6 cassell's book of birds. 



for migrating approaches. In their habits the Plovers are usually active ; they run and fly with 

 equal facility, and though they rarely attempt to swim, are not altogether unsuccessful in that 

 particular. Almost all the species utter a plaintive whistle, and during the breeding season can 

 produce a few connected, pleasing notes. The three or four pear-shaped variegated eggs are deposited 

 in a slight hollow in the ground, in which a few blades of grass are occasionally placed. Both parents 

 assist in the work of incubation. Reptiles, worms, small quadrupeds, and insects constitute the 

 food of these birds. Their flesh is regarded as a delicacy, and they are therefore objects of great 

 attraction to the sportsman, although they often render themselves extremely troublesome by uttering 

 their shrill cry, and thus warning their feathered companions of the approach of danger. From this 

 habit they have received the name of " tell-tales." " The Charadrius carunculata, an African species," 

 writes Livingstone, " a most plaguey sort of ' public-spirited individual,' follows you everywhere, 

 flying overhead, and is most persevering in his attempts to give fair warning to all the animals within 

 hearing to flee from the approach of danger." 



THE GOLDEN PLOVER. 



The Golden Plover [Charadrius auratus, or pluvialis) is at once recognisable by its slender 

 beak and feet, pointed wings, and golden plumage. The feathers on the upper portions of the 

 body are black, thickly covered with small green or golden yellow spots, the entire under side is 

 black. In the autumn, the throat and breast are spotted with yellowish grey ; the belly is white ; 

 the black tail-feathers are streaked with white; and the black throat is decorated with a white 

 stripe commencing at the brow and merging into the breast. The eye is dark brown, the beak 

 black, and the foot blackish grey. This species is ten inches long and twenty-two broad ; the wing 

 measures seven inches, and the tail three inches and a half. 



The Golden Plovers are especially numerous in the cooler portions of the globe, becoming 

 gradually rarer towards 57 north latitude. In England they are generally distributed, but such 

 as occupy the southern parts go northwards to the high hills and swampy ground of Scotland and 

 the northern counties of England during the breeding season. These migrations usually take 

 place at night, the birds flying at a considerable height from the ground. During the day they 

 rest or seek for food, and, strangely enough, select not their usually favourite marshes, but fields 

 and cultivated ground. These Plovers' are brisk and nimble, running with great rapidity, and 

 flying, not only swiftly, but gracefully. During the period of incubation they indulge in a variety 

 of elegant gyrations in the vicinity of the nest, and their plaintive, clear whistle is heard to most 

 advantage at that season. Worms, larvae, beetles, snails, and slugs constitute their principal nourish- 

 ment, and in order to assist digestion small pebbles are also swallowed. Water would appear to be 

 a real necessary of life to these birds, as they love to wash and cleanse their feathers in it daily. 

 The eggs, generally four in number, have a yellowish, stone-coloured shell, marked and spotted with 

 brownish black. These are deposited in a slight hollow in the ground, lined with a few fibres or 

 blades of grass. The young leave the nest immediately after quitting the shell, and follow their 

 parents for about a month, after which time they are able to fly and seek for food on their own 

 account. It is uncertain whether the father assists in the incubation of the eggs. Macgillivray gives 

 the following graphic description of the parental affection observable in the male birds, as witnessed 

 by himself on some heath-covered mountain. " Presently a breeze rolls away the mist, and discloses 

 a number of these watchful sentinels, each on his mound of faded moss, and all emitting their mellow 

 cries the moment we offer to advance. They are males, whose mates are brooding over their eggs, or 

 leading their down-clad and toddling chicks among the (to them) pleasant peat-bogs that intervene 

 between the high banks, clad with luxuriant heath not yet recovered from the effects of the winter 



