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BIRDS OF LEICESTERSHIRE AND RUTLAND. 
GOLDEN PLOVER.* Gharach'his pluvialis, Linnaeus. 
A winter visitant. Not common. — Harley remarked that the appearance 
of the Golden Plover in the county was chiefly confined to Charnwood Forest 
and the wild hills around. Occasionally, however, it was found on the meadow- 
lands which fringe the River Soar, such as the meadows about Loughborough 
and Barrow. T. W. Tebbs, of the Union Inn, Blaby, shewed me one which he 
shot at Wigston, in 1854. Turner informs me that, sometime in 1865, he 
shot a Golden Plover in winter plumage, in the Abbey Meadow. I have seen, 
in the possession of Mr. J. S. Bevins, of Ingarsby Old Hall, a fine specimen 
which was shot by his father, at Wellsborough, about 1865-70. IMr. Macaulay 
recorded (‘Mid. Nat.,’ 1882, p. 65) that “Sir George Beaumont mentions its 
occurrence at Coleorton,” and that “ four were killed at Smeeton and one at 
Gumley some years since.” Mr. Standbridge tells me that, about 1880, he saw 
and shot the Golden Plover at Aston Firs. Mr. Davenport says he shot one at 
Skeffington on 26th Dec., 1881, and that he saw a flock of about fifty on 15th 
IMarch, 1883. He also reports one killed at Foxton in October, 1884. IMr. Ingram 
writes: — “In flocks, in the winter season, in the Vale of Belvoir.” Mr. W. G. 
Adams shot three specimens — so he and others informed me — on 30th Dec., 
1885, in a field just OS' Saffron Lane, Aylestone, and says there were sixty or 
more in the flock. Mr. W. Brookes, writing from Croft in April, 1888, says: — 
“ Golden Plovers are common here in winter, in time of floods ; I have shot 
them frequently in the meadows. There was a flock of about twenty flying 
over the floods when the snow melted a month since.” 
In Rutland. — As in Leicestershire. — Lord Gainsborough writes : — “ Has 
been observed by Mr. N. L. Calcraft at Edith Weston, and recorded by the 
late Rev. C. Lucas, formerly Rector of that place ; also at Ashwell by Mr. H. 
Bromley ” ; and Mr. Horn, who informs me that he saw some near Uppingham 
on 14th Feb., 1886, says: — “A few are seen every year in the Midland Valley.” 
RINGED PLOVER. JSgialitis hiaticula (Linneeus). 
“ Oxbird,” “ Ring-Dotterel.” 
An accidental straggler from the coast, usually in spring and autumn. — 
Mr. Babington (Supplement ‘ Potter ’) stated that it had been killed at Groby 
by the keeper of the Earl of Stamford. Harley recorded its occurrence in the 
meadows at Belgrave, and elsewhere in the county, early in the spring of 1841. 
The Museum Donation-book records the presentation, on 24th March, 186fl, of 
a “ Ring-Dotterel shot in the Abbey Meadow.” Mr. Bevans shewed me one 
which he shot there somewhere about the year 1875, and I saw one in the 
* The Grey Plover, a much rarer bird, but which might occur at any time with other 
Plovers, is distinguished in any stage of plumage, by the possession of a diminutive liind 
toe, which the Golden Plover lacks. 
