THE GOLDEN PLOVER. 
775 
this antic, they clart off with the rapidity of an arrow. 
Thus the pursuit of the Golden Plover is, under all 
circumstances, difficult, and requires experience and good 
shooting to render it successful. This is at all events 
necessary at home, and one must personally have expe¬ 
rienced the difficulty of getting within range of this bird 
to be able to appreciate the truthfulness and confidence 
with which, in its native land, it permits the approach 
of the very occasional visitor, and allows him to carry 
out his blood-thirsty purpose. 
By the end of April the Golden Plover pairs off, when 
the male utters a call that may almost be termed a 
song; simple, it is true, and somewhat resembling 
“ taltidle, taliidle, taliidle, taliidle,” &c., though this is 
but a feeble representation of the reality. The amorous 
bird floats in the air on motionless pinions in large 
semicircles round the nesting-place, or sweeps slowly in 
a slanting direction earthwards towards its partner, who 
knows how to appreciate these aerial attentions. She, in 
return, attaches herself with unfailing fidelity to her loving- 
swain, following him in every movement, whilst he, on the 
other hand, never leaves her for a moment. The female 
is usually occupied with the construction of the nest 
when the male is paying his court, and thus takes 
pleasure in what is most worthy of enjoyment; the 
constant lover still continues to sing his love-ditty, even 
while the female is sitting. 
The small, shallow, cup-sliaped nest, placed on the 
ground, and lined, but rarely, with a few stalks of grass or 
tender roots, is difficult to discover, and the more so, as 
one is apt to find several similar hollows, minus eggs, in 
the neighbourhood of the real nest. It is only a practised 
eye that easily discovers the true nest, for it undertakes 
