Family CHARADRIIDt^i. Genus Charadrius. 



Subfamily Charadriinm. 



GOLDEN PLOVER. 



CHARADRIUS PLUVIALIS— Z2>?««w. 



Geographical Distribution. — British: Breeds locally in 

 England south of Derbyshire and in Wales, in fact follows the 

 mountains. A few breed in Devon and Somerset, and on the 

 heights of Breconshire amongst other localities in the Welsh area. 

 From the moors of North Derbyshire and South Yorkshire it 

 becomes more plentiful, and from thence is pretty generally 

 distributed in all suitable localities northwards throughout Scot- 

 land, including the Hebrides, the Orkneys, and Shetlands. It 

 occasionally visits St. Kilda. During the winter it is widely 

 dispersed along most of our coast line and in many inland dis- 

 tricts. Widely distributed m Ireland, breeding on the moors, 

 and frequenting the coasts in winter. Foreign : Breeds on the 

 Faroes and Iceland, and has occurred on Jan Mayen and Nova 

 Zembla, but is erroneously recorded from Greenland. Its 

 principal breeding grounds are the Norwegian Fells, and the 

 tundras of Northern Russia and Siberia, as far east as the valley 

 of the Lena. It breeds in smaller numbers on the moors of 

 Holland, Belgium, and Germany, but to the rest of Central and 

 Southern Europe it is only known on passage, a few remaining in 

 these districts to winter. The birds that breed on the Siberian 

 tundras pass through Turkestan and Beloochistan on migration, a 

 few remaining to winter in the latter country, but the majority 

 passing on to spend that season in Africa in the basin of the 

 Mediterranean, the grand winter home of this species. It occa- 

 sionally wanders in Africa as far south as Cape Colony and Natal, 

 and westward to Madeira. 



