AND NEIGHBOURHOOD. 21 



chopped up with a mixture of bread, rice, carrots, 

 and millet-seed. 



A very closely allied species — the Eastern Golden 

 Plover, Charadrius fulvus — is recorded as having 

 been met with in Leadenhall Market, and said to have 

 been killed in Norfolk. A fresh specimen of the 

 American Golden Plover, C. virginicus, was also found 

 by Mr. J. H. Gurney in the same market. The 

 Eastern form above mentioned, of which I have a 

 Spanish specimen, may be readily distinguished from 

 our common Golden Plover by its brown axillaries. 



138. GREY PLOVER. 



Squatarola helvetica. 



Although I have never handled a genuine North- 

 amptonshire-killed specimen of this bird, I feel 

 certain of having, in the early spring of 1853, seen 

 two of the species with a small flock of Golden 

 Plovers in our meadows below Thrapston, and as 

 I have received specimens from Whittlesea Wash, 

 I consider that I am fully justified in including the 

 Grey Plover as a bird of our district. As the editor 

 of Yarrell remarks, this species in general appearance, 

 and the change from white to black of the under 

 siurface of the body in spring, closely resembles the 

 Golden Plover, but is a heavier bird, it has a hind 

 toe, the axillary feathers are black, the note is very 

 distinct from that of the Golden Plover, and the 

 bird is very much more strictly maritime in its 

 haunts and habits during its stay in our country, 

 in which it is a bird of double passage, appearing 

 on our coasts in May on its journey to its breeding- 



