440 



6 



France, Germany, &c. In Sardinia they winter in immense flocks, as well as in other countries 

 of the south of Europe, retiring in the summer to high northern latitudes of Asia and Europe to 

 breed." 



Hewitson writes as follows : — " The Golden Plover, though never numerous, is yet pretty 

 generally dispersed over our heathy moors during the breeding-season, and is then rarely met 

 with except in pairs. It is a very watchful bird, and usually discovers itself long before you 

 approach it, by its clear and plaintive whistle, which may be heard at a great distance, and is 

 very deceptive ; upon hearing it when in search of their eggs, I have frequently expected to see 

 the bird close beside me, and, after anxiously searching for it with my eyes all around, have 

 discovered it perched at a distance of three or four hundred yards, upon some hillock or rising 

 ground, on which it mostly takes its stand. Though, as I have just stated, usually very wary 

 and difflcult to approach during the earlier days of incubation, it will sometimes, when the eggs 

 are nearly hatched, almost allow itself to be trodden upon before it leaves the nest." 



Messrs. Gray and Anderson give the following note : — " When the tide is full they repair to 

 fallow grounds in the interior, sometimes travelling inland to a considerable distance. They 

 seem to know instinctively at what hour to leave, so as to reach the coast when the rocks and 

 sands are being exposed as the water recedes. On these occasions the flocks are immense, 

 covering many acres of the shore, and sometimes packing so closely as to form a vast ornitho- 

 logical causeway. In the months of February and March, about the time when Plovers partly 

 assume their breeding-plumage, Mr, Anderson has seen flocks alighting in grass-fields on Enoch 

 Farm, and literally covering about eight or ten acres of ground. A noted haunt for this species 

 in Ayrshire is the farm of Turnberry Warren, about five miles north of Giman, where many 

 thousands congregate in the pasture-lands near the sea about the middle of July." 



Mr. Stevenson, in his 'Birds of Norfolk,' observes: — "The Golden or 'Whistling' Plover, as 

 it is locally termed, is a regular autumnal visitant, but varies as much in numbers, according to 

 the season, as in the time of its arrival. Pretty generally distributed throughout the county, it 

 is met with in flocks of more or less extent throughout the winter months, except during periods 

 of extremely severe weather, when, like other kindred species, it passes southwards, for a time, 

 to return again with the earliest change to a more genial temperature. At such times, after the 

 breaking up of a hard frost, and the reappearance once more of verdure from under the deep 

 snow, the whistle of the Golden Plover, as they rise from the fields, sounds cheerily in the bright 

 sunshine of a winter's morning." 



Mr. A- Benzon, of Copenhagen, writes to us as follows :- — " The true Danish name Hjeile is 

 chiefly used on the peninsula, whereas on the islands, where it seldom is found breeding, it is 

 usually called Brojcfugl, which appears to be a corruption of the German Brachvogel. It lays 

 its first eggs from the middle of April to the early part of May. The first eggs procured on 

 Western Jutland were taken on the 16th of April, the last on the 8th of May. It is common 

 on the Faroes," 



The average size of a series of eggs of this bird, from Denmark, Scotland, and Finland, is 

 2 inches by \\^ inch. In some the ground-colour is pale clay-brown, in others dull yellowish 

 grey, and in others again reddish buff. The underlying shell-markings are purplish brown ; 

 and the large roundijsh overlying surface-spots are rich dark brown, and very clearly defined. 



