THE GOLDEN PLOVER. 89 



Jardine, that " the breeding plumage is altered almost immediately 

 after the station [for breeding] has been fixed upon." In the 

 range of county Antrim mountains eastward of Belfast, where the 

 golden plover has chiefly come under my own observation, the 

 black plumage appears when the bird is congregated in the 

 greatest numbers, several weeks before taking its departure for 

 more northern breeding haunts, which it generally does towards 

 the end of April, though known to remain until the 12th of May. 

 Here they have come in flocks during spring to a large meadow 

 before a cabin, within range of which they have been enticed by an 

 imitation of their call, and shot from the door. On the 17th of 

 April, 1826, I saw, on the Black Mountain and Devis, many hun- 

 dreds of these birds, all as they swept overhead exhibiting the black 

 under plumage. A brace which I shot were in perfect summer 

 garb. On the 14th of April, 1832, a similar instance occurred. 

 Several, shot in the bay on the 27th of February 1836, dis- 

 played the black under plumage, and one, killed on the 20th of 

 February 1814, was mottled with black and white; another, on 

 the 1st of February 1845, had a number of black feathers on the 

 belly; but there only, — the summer, not having yet wholly taken 

 the place of the winter, plumage. The preceding are the only 

 instances in which I examined the birds with reference to the 

 point in question. Of six, however, killed in the first week of 

 March 1847, one was in full winter plumage ; a second nearly in 

 complete summer garb ; the remainder exhibiting black feathers 

 mixed with white, or in the middle stage between that of the 

 two seasons. If the birds really display their nuptial dress at an 

 earlier period in Devonshire and the north of Ireland, than in the 

 counties of Northumberland and Dumfries, we may attribute the 

 circumstance to the superior mildness of the climate in those 

 quarters. 



The golden plover is spoken of by one author as " migrating 

 from the southern to the northern parts of the kingdom at 

 the approach of the breeding season;*" and another observes, 

 " it does not appear that it breeds much to the south of a 



* Jenyns. 



