92 CHARADRIIDiE. 



Burns, indeed, tells us that he could " never hear the loud soli- 

 tary whistle of the curlew in a summer noon, or the wild mixing 

 cadence of a troop of grey [golden] plover, in an autumnal morn- 

 ing, without feeling an elevation of soul, like the enthusiasm of 

 devotion or poetry." 



Prom Burns, the transition to Scotland, and especially to Ayr- 

 shire, is natural ! When grouse-shooting near Ballantrae, in this 

 county, on the 12th of August, 1839, we met with a small flock 

 of golden plover in their breeding ground. On the 16th of the 

 month I saw several small flocks, and remarked, as I had often 

 done before, how much more easy of approach this species is 

 during rain (of which there had been a good deal that day) than 

 at other times ; but for the dogs, I should twice or thrice have 

 been within shot of them on the ground. On the 13th or 14th, 

 which were fine, I could not, though the birds were much fewer 

 in number, get within "two or three shots" of them. So much 

 for the effect of the rain, to which, in consequence of the golden 

 plover bearing the trivial or specific name of pluvialis, some 

 authors have imagined it to be partial. Its spirit, instead, droops 

 under rain like that of the barn-door fowl, so faithfully depicted 

 by Washington Irving in his wet Sunday at an inn.*" When 



* Mr. Yarrell remarks, but on what authority is not stated, that " the French 

 term jiluvier, is "Said to have been applied to the plover — ' Pour ce qu'on le prend 

 mieux en temps pluvieux qu'un nulle autre saison ;' " — for the same reason the 

 name pluvialis may have been bestowed — and most correctly — on the golden 

 plover. 



A note on the effect of rain on some other birds may here be given : — July 28, 

 1838. When talcing shelter from heavy rain, under trees bordering Belfast bay, I 

 observed that the lapwings were at first stationary, not attempting to feed ; but 

 towards the end of it they commenced feeding, perhaps in consequence of victims 

 being driven to the surface. Several herons which were in view ceased looking for 

 prey (which they had been doing just before it commenced), and evinced their dis- 

 content by their shapeless bodily appearance and their neck being shortened to the 

 utmost. Dunlins continued to feed busily during the mere " heavy rain ;" though 

 when it poured down tremendously they could not remain on the ground or beach, but 

 kept flying about in small flocks. When a shore-shooter myself, during two or three 

 autumns (now many years ago), I remarked, what was indeed well known to others, 

 that the Grallatores were much more easy of approach during rain than at other 

 times. When the morning had been very wet, and the rain over by noon, the duidins, 

 for the remainder of the day, . though a perfect calm, kept in flocks of singular 

 density ; — as close together as they could possibly fly. On questioning an intel- 

 ligent shooter on the subject, it was stated that he would even prefer a wet day in 

 autumn for shooting to a snowy one in winter, especially for the knot {Trinqa 



