SCO THE BIRDS OF DEVOX. 



day, unless it be foggy "weather, they are difficult to approach. The most 

 favourable time for stalking tlie •' trips '' is just at daybreak, when they 

 will usually suffer the gunner to get within easy range. Or, by concealing 

 one's self, and imitating their whistling call-note, the flocks ])assing over- 

 head may be decoyed within gunshot. They will be seen to pause uneasily 

 in the air, and will then make a downward swoop, and after a few wide 

 circles will sweep all at once close over the spot from whence the treacherous 

 whistle is issuing, when a fatal volley will lay numbers on the ground. We 

 have made good bags in this way on many occasions, and have obtained 

 them in the winter on Lundy Island by employing this artifice. The cry 

 of the Golden Plover is frequently to be heard at night as the birds pass 

 over to their feeding-grounds, as this species is nocturnal in its habits. 

 When we used to visit the sallow blooms in the spring at night-time to 

 capture the moths feeding on them, we have had passing flocks of Golden 

 Plover attracted by our lights, and have heard the " swish " of their 

 wings, and their wailing cry, as they have flown low over our heads in 

 the dark. 



The Golden Plover was very plentiful near Plymouth in the autumn of 1872, and 

 again in October IST-'J (J. G.. Zool. 1S7-5, pp. '<i'-i'Mi, 37811). It is common in some 

 winters, botii on the uplands and lowlands, during snow near Kingsbridge (R. P. N. and 

 h.. A. S. E., M.S. Notes). Flocks visit the Exminster marshes and Dawlish Warren 

 every autumn and winter. One was killed at Topsham, ibiy I4lh, 1844, and one in 

 adult summer plumage at Crediton, Aj^ril I8th, 1877. The Rev. Thos. Johnes says : — 

 " The natives assured me that the Golden Plover bred in Fur Tor Mire, which is a 

 vast and dismal swamp on Dartmoor " (Bray's ' Tamar and Tavy,' 2nd edit. i. p. 307). 

 Dr. E. Moore records that a brood of six was obtained on the banks of the Tamar in 

 1827 ; and two young ones were found on Roborough Down in 1829 (Trans. Plym. 

 Inst. 1830). Common on Dartmoor and the neiglibouring healths in summer (T. & K., 

 1830). At present Golden Plovers are by no means common at any season of the 

 year on the northern side of Dartmoor (M. A. M.). 



The Golden Plover is reported to have nested formerly on Dartmoor, 

 but there is no record that we know of in recent years that either the eggs 

 or nestling birds have been procured, and we ourselves do not believe that 

 at the present time this bird nests anywhere in the iSouth-western counties, 

 or anywhere further to the south than perhaps on the Erecoushire moun- 

 tains in South Wales. Birds in their full breeding-plumage have been shot 

 late in the spring, but this is no proof that they were ne.'^tingin the county. 



The eggs of the Golden Plover are singularly beautiful, and their 

 blotches of madder and dark russet on a rich olive ground render theui 

 very similar in their tints to the peaty soil and its vegetation on which 

 they are jilaced. They arc of large size, pear-shaped, like all eggs of 

 Plovers and Sandpipers, and are arranged on the ground with their points 

 inwards, so that the bird may be able to cover them. 



The excellence of the Golden Plover as a bird for the table is well 

 known. The pia-e trhite lining of the wings and axillaries, together with 

 the absence of the hind toe, will always distinguish this species from the 

 Grey Plovtr. 



[^Observation. — Another species of Golden Plover, Cliaradrius fuluus, 



