98 



CHAEADKIUS. 



Variations. Although Brehm subdivided the Golden Plover into four species, there seems to be no 

 evidence of the existence of any local races of this bird. Few species vary so little. 



Synonymy. Charadrius apricarius, Linneus, Sijst. Nat. i. p. 150 (1758) ; Bechstein, Naturg. Deutschl. iii. 



p. 203 (1793). 

 Pluvialis aurea, Brisson, Orn. v. p. 43 (1760) ; Macgillivray , Hist. Brit. B. iv. p. 94 (1852). 

 Charadrius pluvialis, Linneus, Syst. Nat. i. p. 254 (1766). 

 Charadrius aureus (Briss.), Miiller, Natursyst. Suppl. p. 118 (1776). 

 Charadrius auratus, Suckow, Naturg. der Thiere, ii. p. 1592 (1801). 

 Pluvialis apricarius {Linn.), Bonap. Cat. Met. Ucc. Eur. p. 57 (1842). 



Literature. Plates.— Gould, Birds of Great Brit. iv. pis. 38, 39 ; Dresser, Birds of Europe, vii. pi. 515. fig. 1, 



and pi. 518. fig. 1. 

 Habits. — Seebohm, British Birds, iii. p. 35. 

 Eggs. — Seebohm, British Birds, pi. 25. figs. 1, 2, 3. 



Specific cha- 

 racters. 



Geographi- 

 cal distribu- 

 tion. 



all the tail-feathers barred, 



The Golden Plover is easily diagnosed by two characters 

 axillaries white. 



The Golden Plover is very local in 

 England during the breeding-season, 

 south of Derbyshire. It is said to breed 

 in the extreme south-west of England 

 and in several localities in Wales, but its 

 true home is on the moors and mountains 

 of the north. Erom the Grouse-moors 

 of Derbyshire northwards to the Orkney 

 and Shetland Islands it is more or less 

 abundant during summer. In winter it 

 is more widely dispersed, frequenting all 

 the coasts and many of the inland dis- 

 tricts. In Ireland it is generally distri- 

 buted, breeding on the moors and high lands. 



The chief breeding-places of the Golden Plover are the fjelds of Norway and the 

 tundras of Russia and Siberia as far east as the valley of the Yenesay. It also breeds 

 sparingly on similar ground as far south as the moors of Holland, Belgium, and North 

 Germany. In the rest of Central and Southern Europe it is principally known as passing 

 through on migration, a few remaining over the winter. Its principal winter-quarters are 

 the basin of the Mediterranean, whence it occasionally straggles to Madeira, and as far 



