THE GOLDEN PLOVER. 
89 
Jardine, that ‘^^the breeding plumage is altered almost immediately 
after the station [for breeding] has been fixed upon.^^ In the 
range of county Antrim mountains eastward of Belfast,, where the 
golden plover has chiefly come under my own observation, the 
black plumage appears when the bird is congregated in the 
greatest numbers, several weeks before taking its departure for 
more northern breeding haunts, which it generally does towards 
the end of April, though known to remain until the 12th of May, 
Here they have come in flocks during spring to a large meadow 
before a cabin, within range of which they have been enticed by an 
imitation of their call, and shot from the door. On the 17th of 
April, 1826, I saw, on the Black Mountain and Devis, many hun- 
dreds of these birds, all as they swept overhead exhibiting the black 
under plumage. A brace which I shot were in perfect summer 
garb. On the 14th of April, 1832, a similar instance occurred. 
Several, shot in the bay on the 27th of February 1836, dis- 
played the black under plumage, and one, killed , on the 20th of 
February 1844, was mottled with black and white; another, on 
the 1st of February 1845, had a number of black feathers on the 
belly ; but there only, — the summer, not having yet wholly taken 
the place of the winter, plumage. The preceding are the only 
instances in which I examined the birds with reference to the 
point in question. Of six, however, killed in the first week of 
March 1847, one was in full winter plumage ; a second nearly in 
complete summer garb ; the remainder exhibiting black feathers 
mixed with white, or in the middle stage between that of the 
two seasons. If the birds really display their nuptial dress at an 
earlier period in Devonshire and the north of Ireland, than in the 
counties of Northumberland and Dumfries, we may attribute the 
circumstance to the superior mildness of the climate in those 
quarters. 
The golden plover is spoken of by one author as migrating 
from the southern to the northern parts of the kingdom at 
the approach of the breeding season and another observes, 
it does not appear that it breeds much to the south of a 
* Jeuyns. 
