G O LD EN PLO V ER , sv.rm.ir .
GOLDEN PLOVER.
CHARADRIUS PLUVIALIS, Linn.
Charadrius pluvialis, Linn. S. N. i. p. 254 (1766); Naum.
xiii. p. 221; Hewitson, i. p. 291; Yarr. ed. 4, m.
p. 271; Dresser, vii. p. 435.
Charadrius auratus, Naum. yii. p. 138.
Pluvialis aurea, Macg. iv. p. 94.
Planier dore, French; Gold-Regenpfeifer, German; Chor-
lito, Spanish.
This bird is too well known to require many details
at my hands, although it is very possible that in the
summer plumage shown in the figure here given it may
not be so familiar to some of my readers as in the
plainer garb of autumn and winter, when the lower
parts are more or less white and spotless.
The Golden Plover nests on the moorlands of the
three kingdoms, generally at a considerable elevation,
the eggs, of which the full complement is four, are very
beautiful, of a warm yellow stone-colour, profusely
blotched with very dark purple or black. The whistle
of this bird is very musical and sweet, though somewhat
mournful. In autumn the Golden Plovers leave the
high moors, and are to be met with, sometimes in very