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SQUATAROLA HELVETICA.
Grey Plover.
Tringa squatarola, Linn. Faun. Suec., p. 66.
— helvética, Linn. Syst. Nat., tom. i. p. 250.
varia, Linn. Syst. Nat., tom. i. p. 252.
Charadrius hypomelas, Pall. Reise, tom. iii. p. 699.
pardela, Pall. Zoog. Rosso-Asiat., tom. ii. p. 142.
--------------squatarola, Naum. Vog. Deutschi., 1838, tom. ix. p. 249, tab. 178.
Vanelhis melanogaster, Bechst. Naturg. Deutsch!, tom. iv. p. 356.
— Helveticas, Bonn, e t VieilL Ency. Meth., Om., part iii. p. 1077.
----------griseus, Jenyns, Man. Brit. Vert. Anim., p. 181.
— squatarola, Sieb., Temm. et Sehleg. Faun. Jap., Aves, p. 106.
Squatarola helvética, Brehm, Vög. Deutschi., p. 554.
— grísea, Leach, Syst. Cat. of Indig. Mamm. and Birds in Brit. Mus., p. 29.
— cinerea, Flem. Hist, of Brit. Anim, p. 111.
—— -— varia, Boie, Isis, 1822, p. 558.
Pluvialis squatarola, Macgil! Man. of Nat. Hist., Ora., vo! ii. p. 48.
A g r e a t e r transformation in the garb o f birds does not exist than occurs in the vernal and autumnal
plumage o f this bird. The accompanying illustrations will show this better than I can explain it in writing.
I t is true that a change of the same kind and almost to the same extent occurs in the Golden Plover; but
the transformations o f the Grey are still more remarkable, since it is dressed in a third state of plumage
during the first autumn, o f its existence, a t which time it is speckled with black and yellow on the head,
breast, back, and upper surface of the tail-feathers. In this yellow stage the young might be supposed by
the casual observer to be Golden Plovers; but such is not the c a se ; and were any positive evidence
required on the subject, the jttUHcnce of a small hind tm on the toot would eonvmee the most sceptical.
I t is in spring that the Grey .Plover, with its fine black breast, over the »Modern parts of England
en route for countries further north, on its return from which it again makes our island its resting-place,
some few remaining here for a winter residence. To say that its summer home and its eggs have never
been found by any British ornithologist, however far north he may have iGm-iled, would be about the
tru th ; and it is but lately that we have been informed o f the discovery of the eggs by the Russian
naturalist, Von Middendorff. That the individuals which visit us proceed to very high latitudes for the
purpose o f breeding, there can be no d o u b t; and we are yearly in hopes of receiving additional information
t>i! the subject. Now, what I have said o f the bird’s two visits annually to England is to a great extent
equally descriptive o f its occurrence in central Europe and, I believe, in India, China, and the temperate
portion of , v > T o »how how widely the bird is dispersed over the face o f the globe, I may mention
that it is found a# flar M*ath m Australia, and in almost the extreme south o f Africa; for we jearn from
Mr. J H. Gurney timf it oeccar* at Port N a ta l; and not only does it inhabit the northern portions of
America, hat, Mr. Salvin informs me, it has been discovered near to, if it does not overstep, the Isthmus
of Panama. In all these southern countries it is •crn in its winter dress only; it is in the north, and
the north alone, that we meet with the bird in its biaek-breasted costume.
As the Grey Plover , during its visits to oar isktady, is perhaps more numerous in Norfolk than elsewhere,
I think it only ju st to the historian of the birds o f that county to insert here what he has written respecting it.
“ The Grey Plovers,” says Mr. Stevenson, " as compared with the Golden Plover, a t no time very
numerous, visit us regularly in autumn, and -mike the»,- appearance on Breydon and other parts of
the coast about the first week in October. Mr. i-J-.n however, states that in August, 1852, he observed
several frequenting t h e ‘ fre sh e s' at Blakeney « fc«'h still m-s! their full summer plumage; and I have
occasionally seen young birds in September, as ewrly ik , 17th, which a t that time exhibited, in their first
plumage, a great resemblance to the Golden Plover, tor which, in this stage, I have no doubt they are
frequently mistaken. One of those in my own collect!«», killed on the 22nd of September, 1853, has all
those parts o f the plumage which are usually white tW adult bird more or less tinged with straw-colour.
The large size o f the bill, the presence o f the hind toe. and the long feathers under the wing beiug black
instead of white as in the Golden Plover, distinguish this species at any age.
•- A few are seen on Breydon Broad throughout the winter, but, as Mr. Frere informs me, not often as
many as twenty or thirty at a time. Mr. Dowell describes them as mostly seen in pairs, which, joined to