THE GOLDEN tLOVERS. 
147 
or even on the moors, where, if alarmed, they rise in the air, 
and wheel and turn in a peculiarly graceful manner. These 
flocks soon disperse, and scatter themselves in pairs over the 
moors for the purposes of breeding. The flight of the Golden 
Plover is powerful and well sustained ; it is not so erratic as 
that of the Peewit, and is performed with moderately quick 
beatings of the wings. When on migration, or when passing 
from place to place, as is oft their wont in winter, the flock 
generally takes the shape of a wedge.” 
Nest. — Placed in a tuft of grass or in a depression in the 
ground, and made of dry grass with a little heather and moss. 
Eggs. — Four in number, varying considerably in colour, from 
rich clay-brown to light stone-grey, mottled all over with 
blotches of black, the underlying spots and blotches being 
reddish-brown. As a rule, the dark blotches are congregated 
towards the larger end of the egg, and the smaller end has the 
smaller spots, and occasionally many tiny dots. Axis, i-85-2-i 
inches; diam., i'35-i'4S. 
II. THE LESSER GOLDEN PLOVER. CHARADRIUS DOMINICUS. 
Charadrius dominicus, P. L. S. Muller, Syst. Nat. Anhang. p. 
1 16 (1766); Sharpe, Cat. B. Brit. Mus. xxiv. p. 195. 
Charadrius fulviis. Dresser, B. Eur. vii. p. 443, pis. 516, 517, 
figs. 2, 3 (1871); B. O. U. List Brit. B. p. 157 (1883); 
Saunders, ed. Yarr. Brit. B. iii. p. 276 (1883); Seebohm, 
Brit. B. iii. p. 40 (1885); Saunders, Man. Brit. B. p. 533 
(1889). 
Adult Male. — Similar to C. pluvialis, but much smaller, with 
more slender lep and feet, and distinguished at once by its 
smoke-brown axillaries ; bill dark olive; feet leaden-grey; iris 
dark brown. Total length, 9 inches ; culmen, o’95 ; wing, 6'6 ; 
tail, 2'4; tarsus, i'65. 
Adult Female. Similar to that of C. pluvialis, but distin- 
guished by the smoke-brown axillaries. Total length, g inches ; 
wing, 6-25. 
The young birds and the winter plumage of the adults 
exactly correspond with the changes of the Golden Plover, but 
the colour of the axillaries always distinguishes the two species. 
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