THE GOLDEN PLOVER. 
8e‘3 
of perching on the rough knolls of the mountain. They allowed 
him to approach within ten or twelve yards, when they rose and 
uttered a shrill whistle.'’^ This gentleman was familiar with the 
appearance of the great plover, from having seen it shot in 
Kent. In a communication to the Zoologist^^ for March 
1845, p. 876, Mr. J. Poole, of GrowtoAvn, near M^exford, stated, 
under date of December 8, 1844, that he ^Miad lately [Dec. 4] 
an opportunity of examining a recent specimen of the Norfolk 
plover which had been shot in [a bog in] that vicinity In the 
same page, one of these birds is mentioned by Mr. E. IT. Eodd, 
of Penzance, Cornwall, as having been brought to that town on 
the 24th Dec. 1844. It is remarked that the several instances 
known to the writer, of the occurrence of the species in the 
Lauda’s End district, were all in the middle of winter. 
A great plover in the garden of the Zoological Society, KegenPs 
Park, London, interested me much during different visits, in 
May 1849, by remaining, fixed as a statue, so long as I had 
patience to return its gaze, in whatever attitude it happened to 
be, when my eye first rested on its organ of vision. I tried it 
from the different sides of the aviary, and found its performance 
the same from all. The earnestly fixed gaze of its large and 
prominent dark eye had a very singular effect. 
THE GOLDEN PLOYED.^ 
Characlrius pluvialis, Linn. 
This beautifully marked and gracefully formed species is 
common in suitable localities throughout Ireland, 
and is permanently resident. 
A VAST increase to the number of our indigenous birds, however, 
takes place towards the end of autumn. The flocks which then 
arrive remain during winter, and depart northward late in spring.]* 
* Often called grey plover. 
t The golden plover was remarked by my late friend George Matthews, Esq., to 
be plentifid during summer along the coast of Norway : he did not meet with it there 
in winter. At the latter season, it is said to be most abundant in the Orkney 
Islands. Hist. Nat. Oread., p 58 (1848). 
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