368 BIRDS OF DUMFRIESSHIRE 
The photograph of a nest and eggs reproduced in t 
accompanying plate was taken in 1903 by Mr. D. Legard 
the head of Scaur Water. 
THE GREY PLOVER. Squatarola helvetica (Linnaeus). 
Local name— Silver-Plover. 
A somewhat scarce winter-visitant to the Solway. 
Sir Wilham Jardine wrote in 1842 of the Grey Plover : 
" We have met with them frequently on the Solway, and 
once shot a pair on the banks of one of the lochs at Loch- 
maben "* These specimens are recorded m the Catalogue 
of the Birds conUiined in the collection of Sir William Jardine 
as obtained by him at the " Castle Loch, Lochmaben, 
and Mr R Service states that they were shot so early as 
August t A Grey Plover, recorded by Wilham Hastmgs 
as one of only two received by him in many years,J has 
been ascertained to have been obtained at Caerlaverock on 
November 1st, 1884. 
The Grey Plover does not congregate m flocks, and is 
found in small parties, but very locaUy on our coast during 
frosty weather, often consorting with Bar-tafled Grod- 
wits On the muddy flats at the mouth of the Lochar on 
the east of the Blackshaw Bank, this species may usuaUy be 
met with every winter, but in its numbers it is very irregular. 
It must also be remembered that the Golden Plover is 
often miscaUed the " Grey Plover." 
The species breeds in arctic Europe from Kolguev east- 
wards and across Siberia to Kamchatka, as weU as in parts ot 
arctic America. In winter it is found on the coast-hne 
of Europe, on both sides of Africa, the greater part of Asia, 
and in Austraha, while in America it reaches Guatemala. 
* Nat. Lib., 1842, Vol. XII., p. 288. 
t Trans. Nat. Hist. Soc. Glasg., 1905, Vol. VIII., p. 48. 
J Trans. D. and G. Nat. Hist. Soc, November 7th, 1884. 
