GREY PLOYER. 
43 
rudimentary, and lying close to the leg, and claws, greyish 
black. 
‘In spring the black feathers begin to appear on the breast, 
and the birds may he observed in various degrees of change 
from white, with only a few black feathers, to entire and perfect 
black. The breeding plumage is generally complete by the 
end of May.’ 
‘Young birds of the year, in autumn are darker than old 
birds in winter, having a larger proportion of black above and 
grey below.’—Yarrell. 
The full summer plumage is acquired the latter end of May. 
Sir William Jardine says ‘Two specimens shot a few years 
since, by the side of one of the Lochmaben lochs, in the month 
of August, had the ground colour of the upper parts very dark, 
and the edging and angular spotting of the feathers nearly 
of the tint of sienna yellow, so as to cause them to appear, 
when first taken up, to be the Golden Plover; the breast also 
had the dark parts of the feathers much broader, and the 
whole tinted over with yellowish wood brown. These were 
considered to be young birds arrived from migration.’ 
