GOLDEN PLOVER. HI 



a date as the latter end of August, in flocks of from one hundred and fifty to two 

 hundred birds ; and he mentions that on one occasion, in the month of January, a wild- 

 fowl shooter killed at one discharge of a swivel-gun no less than one hundred and eight 

 Golden Plovers ; besides a number more that were afterwards picked up by other persons. 



The following account of their habits is given by Mr. Poole, living in the county of 

 Wexford, as quoted by Mr. Thompson : — "The Golden Plover is an irregular winter visitant 

 to the lowlands, coming only when hard frost compels it to leave its highland haunts. 

 When undisturbed, these birds always arrange themselves in flight in the form of a 

 triangle; but if frightened they desert that order, and fly a long way (in single file) 

 without joining again. In feeding on fallow ground, they prefer the furrows to the tops 

 of the ridges, and thus unconsciously form themselves into rank, resembling an army drawn 

 up in order of battle. They are tame birds, and when unaccompanied by Lapwings, 

 easily approached. Some birds, shot in the evening, had their stomachs distended with 

 earth-worms, on which and beetles they feed." 



These Plovers have a curious habit, when shot at, of throwing themselves suddenly down 

 nearly to the ground; and it is said that if a gunner sees a flock of them high above 

 him, he lias only, if he has a double gun, to fire one barrel, which will have the effect 

 of bringing them, very probably, within shot of the remaining barrel. During the winter 

 they may be not unfrequently found associated with the Common Lapwing. Mr. St. 

 John remarks how well these birds seem to calculate time; for when in winter they are 

 obtaining their food upon the sea-shore, they are, (speaking of Sutherlandshire,) when the 

 tide is up, obliged to take to the land; and although their chosen resort is, on these 

 occasions, fully five miles inland, they never fail to make their appearance on the shore, 

 as soon as ever it is sufficiently uncovered to admit of their procuring food. 



The food of the Golden Plover consists of earth-worms in large numbers, small snails, 

 slugs, beetles, ' and other insects, together with some vegetable substances. When they 

 resort to the sea-shore, their food is of course very different; and Mr. Thompson has 

 found their stomachs on these occasions distended with small testaceous mollusca of the 

 genera Rissoa, Littorina, and Lacuna, together with the fry of the common mussel, 

 (Mytilus edulis.) 



Early in the spring, but depending in great measure on the state of the weather, they 

 pair, and betake themselves to the wild moors and mountain sides for the important task 

 of nesting. The nest is merely a slight hollow in the ground, with a few dry blades of 

 grass in it. In this, at the end of May or early in June, the female lays four eggs, 

 which have a ground colour of pale cinereous olive, blotched and spotted with brownish 

 black. They are very large for the size of the bird, measuring in length two inches by 

 one inch and four lines in breadth. They are more pointed than those of the Lapwing. 

 They breed but once in the season. 



