BIRDS OF DUMFRIESSHIRE 367 
wiU remain in their breeding-places till far on in the autumn, 
and I have noted flocks on Queensberry in mid-November 
m mild weather. One of the pleasantest sounds of returning 
sprmg IS the plaintive whistle of the Golden Plover falling 
down from the heavens when a migration rush is coming on 
Long after our own Golden Plover are engaged in nesting 
duties, I have recognised the notes of the same species going 
northwards at night in company with Knots and others so 
far on as the end of April and till mid-May. Where these 
birds were going to is one of the puzzles presented to the 
student of migration."* As winter approaches Golden 
Plover repair to the coast and are seen inland less frequently, 
only returning again in numbers during any mild speU of 
weather. At this season of the year, it is probable that the 
birds seen on our shore are immigrants from farther north, 
which have taken the place of our locally-bred birds, which 
have in turn migrated southwards. On the coast Golden 
Plover feed on mollusca, and when inland, worms, slugs 
insects and their larvcB form their food, but at certain 
periods of the day sand-beds are resorted to for the necessary 
supply of digestive grit. 
When on the wing they fly at a headlong pace, and thev 
have a habit of dropping to the shot when fired at I 
remember once shooting at a flock coming to me, when I 
was standing behind a wire-fence. At my first barrel they 
dropped below the level of the fence, and, dashing through 
It, SIX birds were kiUed by the wires, one of them having its 
leg torn off from its body. 
The Golden Plover nests throughout northern Europe, 
and m western Siberia ; in autumn migrating south from its 
more northern breeding-haunts. Its chief winter-quarters 
are in the basin of the Mediterranean, and along the 
coasts of Africa as far south as Cape Colony. It breeds in 
many suitable locahties in Great Britain and Ireland, and is 
abundantly met with along many coastal districts in 
winter. 
* Trans, Nat. Hist. Soc. Glasg., 1905, Vol. VIIL, p. 48. 
