88 
CHAUADRIID/E. 
congeners. No matter how rapidly the floek may be speeding 
onwards when fired at^ it is certain instantly to sweep down- 
wards_, and in such a manner that I can readily imagine a tyro, 
after having shot at the speeies for the first time, impressed for a 
moment with the idea that the whole flock is falling to his barrel. 
On this subject a note has been supplied by a sporting friend, 
to whom the preceding remarks were shown In the winter of 
1847 I went to boggy meadows, in the neighbourhood of Belfast, 
for the purpose of shooting golden plover, and took with me a 
young lad, who had never before been on such an expedition. 
When returning home, a flock, consisting of about fifty of those 
birds, flew overhead beyond reach of the shot ; but as I despaired 
of getting nearer to them, I fired at the floek, on whieh they 
instantly swept down, almost perpendicularly, within three or 
four yards of the ground. My companion ran forward in the 
greatest delight, to pick up, as he expected, the entire flock, when, 
to his utter amazement, they all resumed their former mode of 
flight, and quickly disappeared in the distance.^^ Blocks of lap- 
wings, when fired at, often droop more vertically than the golden 
plover, and approach the ground more nearly — within a very few feet. 
The ])eriod at which the under portions of the golden plover 
become black is differently stated by the best praetical ornitholo- 
gists. Montagu remarks, that this bird begins to change its 
plumage early in the year; a specimen, shot on the 10th of 
March, in Devonshire, had the whole under parts mixed black and 
white from the chin to the vent."’^'^ Mr. Selby observes, that 
towards the end of March, or the beginning of April, when 
the impulse of nature excites them, the flocks, which during the 
autumn and winter had remained united, begin to separate into 
smaller parties, and retire to the uncultivated grounds of the 
northern counties of England, and to the Highlands of Scotland, 
where they break into pairs, and prepare to breed. At this period 
the vernal moult commences, and a remarkable change of plumage 
is soon perceptible, the birds being fully clad in their nuptial 
garb by the end of May,""' (p. 232.) It is stated, by Sir William 
* Supplement to Orn. Diet. 
