COR BPR Dis, 65 
time they fuddenly ftop, and ftand-motionlefs; at 
the leatt noife they keep clofe to the ground, - 
Flies, beetles, and little fnails, with other infects, 
fuch as crickets, grafshoppers, &c. are their chief 
food ; ; fometimes, too, apege eat little lizards, and 
"young {nakes. 
The great Plovers, in the day time, are Alene 
and folitary ; that 1s, they remain feparate : but in 
_ the evening their cry is heard at a great diftance 
from the hills. ‘They fly about then very fwiftly, 
and come near our houfes, | 
--'Thefe birds are wild. and timorous, va {6 
_ quick-fighted, that they fee the fowler and fly 
away from him before he can get within gun-fhot 
‘ : of them. They feem all day long to keep fill - 
through fear. It is faid that they are very reftlefs . 
and uneafy juft before a ftorm. ‘They keep this 
habit, as well as their aaah, even in confine 
oe : ment, 
- Thefe birds differ in this refpedt from other 
Plovers, that they only frequent) dry ‘and high — 
 places.. They leave France in November; but 
before they fet out they get together in flocks, of 
three or four hundred each, at the cry of one who 
calls them, and they all fet out in the night. — 
The. ta 
