SQUATAROLA HELVETICA. 
Grey Plover. 
Tringa squatarola, Linn. Faun. Suec., p. 66. 
helvetica, Linn. Syst. Nat., tom. i. p. 250. 
varia, Linn. Syst. Nat., tom. i. p. 262. 
Charadrius hypomelas, Pall. Reise, tom. iii. p. 699. 
pardela, Pall. Zoog. Rosso- Asiat., tom. ii. p. 142. 
squatarola, Naum. Vog- Deutschl., 1838, tom. ix. p. 249, tab. 178. 
Vanellus melanogaster, Bechst. Naturg. Deutschl., tom. iv. p. 356. 
helveticus, Bonn, et Vieill. Ency. Meth., Orn., part iii. p. 1077. 
griseiis, Jenyns, Man. Brit. Vert. Anim., p. 181. 
squatarola, Sieb., Temm. et Schleg. Faun. Jap., Axes, p. 106. 
Squatarola helvetica, Brebm, Vog. Deutschl., p. 554. 
grisea, Leach, Syst. Cat. of Indig. Mamm. and Bii’ds in Brit. Mus., p. 29. 
cinerea, Flem. Hist, of Brit. Anim , p. 111. 
varia, Boie, Isis, 1 822, p. 558. 
Pluvialis squatarola, Macgill. Man. of Nat. Hist., Orn., vol. ii. p. 48. 
A GREATER transformation In the garb of birds does not exist than occurs in the vernal and autumnal 
plumage of this bird. The accompanying illustrations will show this better than I can ex])lain it in writing. 
It is true that a change of the same kind and almost to the same extent occurs in the Golden Plover; but 
the transformations of the Grey are still more remarkable, since it is dressed in a third state of plumage 
during the first autumn of its existence, at which time it is s])eckled with black and yellow on tbe head, 
breast, back, and upper surface of the tail-feathers. In this yellow stage the young might be supposed by 
the casual observer to be Golden Plovers ; but such is not the case ; and were any positive evidence 
required on the subject, the presence of a small hind toe on the foot would convince the most sceptical. 
It is in spring that the Grey Plover, with its fine black breast, passes over the eastern parts of England 
en route for countries further north, on its return from which it again makes our Island its resting-place, 
some few remaining here for a winter residence. To say that its summer home and its eggs have never 
been found by any British ornithologist, however far north he may have travelled, would be about the 
truth ; and it is but lately that we have been informed of the discovery of the eggs by tbe Russian 
naturalist, Von Middendorff. That the individuals which visit us proceed to very high latitudes for the 
purpose of breeding, there ean be no doubt ; and we are yearly in hopes of receiving additional information 
on the subject. Now, what I have said of the bird’s two visits annually to England is to a great extent 
equally descriptive of its occurrence in central Europe and, I believe, in India, China, and the tenq)erate 
portion of America. To show how widely the bird is dispersed over the face of the globe, I may mention 
that it is found as far south as Australia, and in almost the extreme south of Africa ; for we learn from 
Mr. J. H. Gurney that it occcurs at Port Natal ; and not oidy does it inhabit the northern portions of 
America, but, Mr. Salvin informs me, it has been discovered near to, if it does not overstep, the Isthmus 
of Panama. In all these southern countries it is seen in its winter dress only ; it is in the north, and 
the north alone, that we meet with the bird in its blaek-breasted costume. 
As the Grey Plover, during its visits to our islands, is perhaps more numerous in Norfolk than elsewhere, 
I think it only just to the historian of the birds of that county to insert here what he has written respecting it. 
“The Grey Plovers,” says Mr. Stevenson, “though, as compared with the Golden Plover, at no time very 
numerous, visit us regularly in autumn, and usually make their appearance on Breydon and other parts of 
the coast about the first week in October. Mr. Dowell, however, states that in August, 1852, he observed 
several frequenting the ‘freshes’ at Blakeney which still retained their full summer plumage ; and I have 
occasionally seen young birds in September, as early as the 17th, which at that time exhibited, in tbeir first 
plumage, a great resemblance to tbe Golden Plover, for whicb, in this stage, I have no doid)t they are 
frequently mistaken. One of those in my own collection, killed on the 22nd of September, 1853, bas all 
those parts of the j)lumage which are usually white in the adult bird more or less tinged with straw-colour. 
The large size of the bill, the presence of the hind toe, and the long feathers under the wing being black 
instead of white as in the Golden Plover, distinguish this species at any age. 
“ A few are seen on Breydon Broad throughout the winter, but, as Mr. Frere informs me, not often as 
many as twenty or thirty at a time. Mr. Dowell describes them as mostly seen in pairs, which, joined to 
