THE GOLDEN PLOVERS. 
Nestling. — Clothed in golden down mottled with black, the 
latter, however, scarcely forming any distinct pattern ; on each 
side of the back a streak of ashy-whitish down, and the 
wings marked with a golden patch, with a spot of bright 
yellow on the lores and eyebrow; below the eye a spot of 
ashy-whitish, with some markings of the same on the hind- 
neck and sides of the neck ; cheeks and under surface of body 
ashy-whitish, with a patch of dusky-blackish underlying the 
down of the breast. 
Sange in Great Britain. — The Golden Plover nests on the 
moor-land of all the three kingdoms, a few being found on the 
higher ground of Devonshire and Somerset. In Wales, and 
from the Derbyshire moors northward into Scotland the 
species breeds, sometimes in abundance, especially in the 
Orkneys, Shetlands, and the ticbrides. “ In Ireland,” writes 
Mr. R. J. Ussher, “the Golden Plover breeds on mountains 
in Donegal, Antrim, Fermanagh, Cavan, Dublin, Wicklow, 
Queen’s County, Tipperary, Waterford, Cork, Kerry, Galway, 
Mayo, and Sligo. In Connemara it breeds both on moun- 
tains and bogs, and Mr. H. C. Hart has found it breeding 
on a vast bog in the centre of Northern Mayo.” The species 
winters in large flocks in many parts of the British Islands, 
and a large migration takes place every autumn and spring. 
Eange outside the British Islands. — The Golden Plover nests in 
the high north of Europe, as well as in Iceland and the Faeroes. 
It has been found in Novaya Zemlya, Jan Mayen, and in Green- 
land. It nests also on the moors of Germany, Brabant, and 
Luxembourg, but in the rest of Europe it is generally known 
as a migrant, wintering in the Mediterranean countries, and, 
more rarely apparently, passing down the continent of Africa. 
To India it is a very rare winter visitor ; Mr. Blanford pro- 
cured a specimen in Baluchistan in December, and a single 
example from Sehwan in Sind, killed in January, is in the 
Hume collection. 
Hahits. — The clear-sounding note of the Golden Plover is £# 
sure indication of the presence of the bird. Mr. Seebohm calks- 
the alarm-note a plaintive kd, scarcely distinguishable from- 
that of the Grey Plover, and the call-note is a double kl-ee. 
Mr. Howard Saunders renders it as a clear whistling tliii, which- 
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