The young of the year have the upper parts ashy black with spots of yellowish ash. (Temm.) , In this garb the birds are, according to Temmiuck, C. plurialis, Grnel.; C. a'araludi,Suckow ' • Le Pluvier Buff. ; Golden or Green Plover, Lath ; Goldregenpfeifer, Bechst.; l'iviere Dorato, of the Stor. degL Hee.' ; Goud Plevior, Sepp.
The old male and female in summer or nuptial plumage have the upper parts deep black ; over all the borders of the feathers are dis posed small spots of a very bright golden yellow ; front and space above the eyes pure white ; lateral parts of the neck white also, but varied with great black and yellow spots ; throat, front of the neck, and all the other lower parts, deep black.
White and black mingled are often aeon on the lower parts of the feathers during the moult. This livery is always to be seen on the young birds, even after their first spring moult. (Temm.) In this state the bird is, according to 31. Temminek, C.apricarius, Gmel. ; Lo Pluvier Dori h Gorge Noire, Buff.; Alwargrim Plover, Lath.
In the fourth part of his Manuel,' 31. Temminek adds the following synonyms :— C. aerates, Naum. ; Der Platkiipfige, Hochsternige, Mittlere, and llochkopfige Goldregcnpfeifer, Brehm. ; Brockfogel, Nils. ; and Ploiere, Savi.
This species is also Le Pluvier Guillemot of Belon (who says that it is named Pluvier, " pour ce qu'ou lc prend mieux en temps pluvieux (peen nulle autre raison," and he gives an amusing account of the mode of taking these birds by the peasants) ; Der Hecht° Brachvogel of the Germans ; Hawk's Eyes of the Hudson's Bay residents (1); Cwttyn yr our of the ancient British.
Mr. Selby gives a most correct and interesting account of the habits of the bird in this country :—" About the end of May or beginning of June the females begin to lay, making but a little artificial nest, a small depression 'in the ground amidst the heath being generally taken lulvantage of, and lined with a few dry fibres and stems of grass. The eggs are four in number, rather larger than those of the lapwing, of a cream-yellow inclining to oil-green, with large irregular confluent blotches or spots of deep umber-brown. The young, when excluded, are covered with a beautiful particoloured down of bright king's yellow and brown. They quit the nest as soon as hatched, and follow their parents till able to fly'and support themselves, which is in the This species has been always considered, and most justly, a delicious dish. It figures in the old bills of faro accordingly. Thus in the account of Sir John Nevile, of Chete Knight, of the viands, &e., used at the marriage of his son-in-law Roger Itockley and his daughter Elizabeth Nevile, the 14th of January, in the seventeenth year "of the reigns of our soveraigne lord king Ilenry VIII.," we find in the second course, "Item, plover, 8 of a dish," and among the charges, "Item, in plover, 3 doz., 5.." Ili the charge of the said Sir John Nevile, at Lammas Assizes, twentieth of Henry VIII., we also find "Item, 6 doz. plovers, 12s." Four hundred plovers appear among " the goodly provision " at the intronization of George :scroll, arch bishop of 1 ork, in the reign of Edward IV. Drayton, in his ' Poly albion,' makes Lyndsey boast that her "fowle more eyrie are" than those of Holland (Linculnahiru) ; "And make line spirits and blood ; For neere DA. batning isle, in me in to be seene, )fore than on any earth, the plover grey and grecne." There is evidence of the presence of the Golden Plover in each of the four quarters of the globe. Mr. Gould indeed, in his observations on the geographical distribution of the species collected by Mr. Keith Abbot in the neighbourhood of Trebizond, notices the bird as inhabit ing Europe, and the adjoining portions of Africa and Asia, but not America. (' Zoo}. Proc.,' 1S34.) Now Ternminck expressly says that
the species is the same in America and Asia. Sabine also (Parry's ' First Voyage) makes Wilson's C. apricaries and the Golden Plover identical, and states that it breeds in the swampy parts of the North Georgian Islands in considerable abundance. Richardson states that the breeding-quarters of this well-known bird are the Barren Grounds and the coasts and islands of the Arctic Sea. " It hatches," ho says, "early in June, and retires southward in August. Numbers linger on the muddy shore of Hudson's Bay and on the sandy beaches of rivers and lakes in the interior until the hard frosts of September and October drive them away. At this period they are very fat, and are highly prized by the epicures of the Fur Countries. They make hut a short stay in Pennsylvania, and are said to winter beyond the United States." (' Fauna Boreali-Americana.) Captain Sir James Ross, RN., notices it as abundant during the breeding season in most parts of the arctic regions, end he found them plentifully in the neighbourhood of Felix Harbour, feeding in the marshes in company with C. serapalmatus (American Ring-Plover). (Sir John Rom 's 'Second Voyage?) Nuttall remarks that the bird is, according to the season of the year, met with in almost every part of the world, particularly in Asia and Europe, from Karotehatka to China, as well as in the South Sea Islands, and from Arctic) America, where it breeds, to the Falkland Islands. The Prince of' Canino (' Birds of Europe and North America') appears, on the other hand, to agree with Mr. Gould, for the Prince makes the American analogue of C. plurialis, Linn., C. l'irginiacus, Borkh. (C. plurialis, Wills.); and Colonel Sykes notes it among the birds of the Deccan, and as identical with Javanese specimens, smaller indeed than one North American specimen and two English specimens in the British Museum, but absolutely identical with other British specimens. lie says that it is rare in the Deccan, and appears only in the cold weather. In the stomach he found beetles, land-insects, and coarse sand. ('Zool. Proc.,' 1S32.) It appears among the list of birds seen in Japan by Dr. Von Siebold and M. Burger; and Temminck states that those killed there did not differ essentially from those of Europe. Mr. Selby allows a wide geogmplrical range to it, though not to the extent supposed by many naturalists, the birds which have been considered by them as belonging to this species being of a different one, namely, C. monaural us of Wagler. Instead therefore of extending the range of the Golden Plover to America, Australia, and other parts of the southern hemisphere, he feels inclined to limit it to Europe, Northern Asia, and some few districts in the north of Africa. (' British Ornithology?) C. Alorinellss, Linn., the Dotterel. It is Eudromias 3foriatila, Boie ; E. Norinella montwut el atotida, Brehm, according to This bird in its winter plumage has the top of the head and occiput Llackisheush ; large eyebrows of reddish-white uniting on the occiput ; face white, dotted with black ; upper parts blackish-ash tinged with greenish, all the feathers of those parts framed as it were with ruddy colour ; breast and sides reddish-ash; the large patch on the breast and the middle of the belly pure white; shaft of the first quill white, except towards the end, tail terminated with white; bill black ; iris brown ; feet greenish-ash. Length more than 8 inches.