PLOVERS. 87 



the golden plover, known in England as Charadritis Pluvialis, 

 but out here represented by a slightly different species, 

 Charadriits Fiilviis, the "gold-coloured." The home bird 

 measures at times from ten to eleven inches in length, but that 

 is considerably above the average of those with which I have 

 personably come in contact in China. The summer dress of 

 the male is dark in colour on the upper parts with specks of 

 yellow, the under portion much lighter, and in parts white 

 with dark mottling. Beak and legs are likewise dark, almost 

 black. The female is of somewhat lighter tint. Both sexes 

 undergo a marked change in their seasonal dress. The 

 golden plover has but three toes. Its French name, Phivier 

 dore, suggests to an Englishman, who might not otherwise 

 think of it, the derivation of the term "plover," which really 

 comes from the Latin, pliivia, rain. 



Somewhat longer in the leg than the snipe, the English 

 representative of the plovers is also somewhat heavier. I 

 have never weighed any in China, but I should think speaking 

 from memory and general impression, that there is not 

 much difference between their weight here. As to eating, no 

 general rule can be laid down. Some think the golden plover 

 excellent. I have experimented with most kinds, and find 

 that whilst all are more or less good when well cooked, they 

 hardly equal the snipe at its best, and never the woodcock. 



Plovers migrate in large numbers, but in this neigh- 

 bourhood they are usually seen in small companies, and 

 are noticeable for their power of sustained and graceful 

 flight. When alarmed they will circle round and round 

 at some distance from the intruder who has frightened them, 

 but if satisfied that there is little or no danger will return 

 and alight within a gunshot or two of the place from which 

 they were put up. They run as well as they fly. In days of 

 old it was by no means an uncommon thing to see a little 

 congregation of them on the Racecourse if the ground were 

 damp enough to attract them. I have even seen a few on the 

 cricket ground itself, once when a match was in progress ! 

 Unless persecuted, they are not very difficult to approach, and 

 hence there is no great difficulty in bagging them. I once saw 

 one knocked over by a marble shot from a boy's catapult ! 

 When wild, shooting them is a diff^erent matter. 



Another plover of almost world-wide fame is the lap- 

 wing or peewit, the Dix-hiiit, as the French call him. Tech- 

 nically he is of the allied genus Vanellus, and is further 

 distinguished by the term Cristatus, or crested. Some 

 people know him as the green plover, green being prominent 

 in his upper markings. But by whatever name he is known, 

 the peewit is a handsome bird, and well worth watching 

 through a good glass. He is somewhat shy and does not 



