I40 THE GAME BIRDS AND WILD FOWL 



change arrives. Much of its food is obtained during the night, 

 especially if there be a moon, but I do not think it moves much 

 on very dark nights. The food of the Golden Plover varies a 

 good deal according to season. In winter it consists of beetles, 

 small mollusks, sand-worms, hoppers, and occasionally small 

 seeds, but in summer insects and grubs are principally eaten, as 

 well as earth-worms, and towards autumn various kinds of ground 

 fruits. I have known this species in summer feed upon the 

 maggots (presumably the larva of the common blue-bottle) 

 infesting a dead sheep. Various vegetable fragments and gravel 

 are also found in its stomach. The alarm note of the Golden 

 Plover is a plaintive kii, but the call-note is double, and sounds 

 something like kke-wee, sometimes prolonged into three syllables, 

 klee-ee-wee. These notes are uttered both on the ground and 

 whilst the bird is in the air. During the pairing season the male 

 utters a rather musical trill, a variation of the double or treble 

 call-note. The whistle of this Plover is one of the most charac- 

 teristic sounds of the mud-flats or the moors, and on a calm, still 

 day may be heard for a very long distance. 



Nidiiicatioil. — The Golden Plovers begin to retire to their 

 inland breeding grounds early in April, and by the end of that 

 month or early in May the eggs are deposited. Although the 

 vast flocks soon break up, either before the moors are reached 

 or shortly after arrival, the bird continues more or less social, 

 and many nests may be found within a comparatively small 

 area on suitable ground. This species is very conspicuous 

 on the bare moors, and is remarkaby fond of proclaiming its 

 presence either by standing perched on the top of a little hillock, 

 or rising into the air uttering its piping note the moment its 

 solitudes are invaded by man. It is now much more tame than 

 in winter, and often flies up to the observer and wheels above his 

 head, or stands quietly watching his approach. Before the flocks 

 finally disperse, however, this bird is almost as wary as when on 

 the coast. The well-known note sounds near and far, as it is 

 uttered by answering birds from all parts of the wilderness, and 

 here, there, and everywhere the showy Plovers in their brazen 

 spotted upper plumage and black underparts rise and fall in airy 

 grace. The Golden Plover appears to pair annually, and the 



