Part 68

Fore-crown white, and upper parts mottled blackish brown and white; lores, cheeks, throat and neck, and under parts, black. Length, twelve inches. After the autumn moult the upper parts are more greyish, and all the rest white.

* * * * *

This species so closely resembles the golden plover in size and appearance, both in summer and winter, changing, like it, from black to white, and from white to black, that it seems strange to find it classed in a separate genus. But there is a slight anatomical difference in the two birds: the grey plover is provided with a rudimentary hind toe, while the golden plover has only three toes on its foot. The present species does not breed in the British Islands. Its summer home is in arctic Siberia. From August, when it begins to arrive, until the following spring it is found on our coasts every year in small flocks. It is much less common than the golden plover, and while with us is almost exclusively a bird of the seashore.

The grey plover is considered a poor bird for the table; but in Yarrell’s work it is stated that Englishmen have not always been of that opinion, that it was formerly esteemed above most birds, and that the saying, ‘a grey plover cannot please him,’ was used of a person with an excessively fastidious palate. The bird proverbial for its delicacy was probably our golden plover, which to this day is called grey plover in Ireland.

Kentish Plover.

Ægialitis cantiana.

Forehead, stripe above the eye, chin, cheeks, and under parts white; upper part of forehead, a band from the base of the bill extending through the eye, and a large spot on each side of the breast, black; head and nape light brownish red; upper plumage ash-brown; two outer tail-feathers white. Length, six inches and three-quarters. The female is without the black on the fore-crown, her neck patches are brown instead of black, and her colours duller than in the male.

* * * * *

This species, in appearance a small and pale-coloured ringed plover, is a summer visitor to the south-east and east coasts of England from Sussex to Yorkshire, and received its name of Kentish plover when first described, nearly a century ago, by Latham, from specimens obtained at Sandwich. Its sojourn in this country is a short one, excepting on the Sussex and Kentish coasts, where a few pairs remain to breed; but as a breeding species the bird has now been almost extirpated by the egg-collector--the soulless Philistine who is without any feeling for wild nature, and whose vulgar ambition it is to fill a cabinet with the faded shells of eggs which he can label ‘British-taken.’

The Kentish plover has a very extensive distribution in Europe, Africa, and Asia. In its habits it resembles the ringed plover, and lays its three, and sometimes four, eggs in a slight depression among the fine shingle or broken shells. The eggs are of a yellowish stone-colour, spotted and scratched with black.

Ringed Plover.

Ægialitis hiaticula.

Forehead, lores, and gorget reaching round the neck black; a band across the forehead, a stripe over each eye, broad collar, and lower parts, white; nape and upper parts hair brown; outer tail-feathers white; bill, orbits, and feet orange. Length, seven inches and three-quarters. In the female the black collar is less well defined.

* * * * *

The small ringed plover is a sprightly, prettily marked bird, with conspicuous white and black collar, and a melodious voice. His modulated alarm-note, somewhat plaintive in character, is familiar to most persons who walk by the seashore, for he is a common species on our coasts, and has the habit of betraying his presence by sounding an alarm when approached; and if the intruder moves quietly, and occasionally pauses in his walk, the little plover will not take to flight, but continue running on before him, all the while playing on his wild and sorrowful little pipe. In spring the male has a fuller, sweeter note, by way of love-call or song, uttered occasionally on the wing. He is an extremely active and lively bird, running rapidly on the sands, and, when the tide is going out, often keeping close to the water to pick up the small marine insects and crustaceans on which he feeds. He is not, however, exclusively a bird of the seashore, but is also found on the margins of rivers and lakes, and sometimes breeds at a distance from the sea. As a rule the nest is placed on the sandy beach, or fine shingle, above high-water mark. The nest is merely a slight depression in the sand, in which four pear-shaped eggs are laid, of a pale stone or cream colour, marked with small round, blackish brown and grey spots. The breeding season begins in May, and as eggs continue to be found to the end of July, it is probable that two broods are reared in the season. When the young are hatched the parent birds manifest the utmost anxiety, and will attempt to lead a man or dog from the spot by fluttering as if wounded along the ground.

The ringed plovers are social in disposition, and even during the breeding season it is common to find them in small parties. In the autumn they unite in flocks.

This species is to be met with in this country throughout the year; but in spring our coasts are visited on migration by a ringed plover of a different race, smaller in size. It is with this smaller bird that the lesser ringed plover (Ægialitis curonica), a rare straggler to England from continental Europe, is sometimes confounded.

* * * * *

Another member of this genus, the North American killdeer plover (Ægialitis vocifera), has been once or twice obtained in this country.

PLATE II.

DOTTEREL. ½ NAT. SIZE.]

Dotterel.

Endromias morinellus.

Crown dusky black, bordered by a white band extending backwards from the eye round the nape; upper parts ash-brown, the inner secondaries margined with rufous; tail-feathers broadly tipped with white, except the middle pair; throat dull white; upper breast ash-brown; white gorget or band lower breast, and flanks bright chestnut; belly black; tail-coverts white. The female is larger and brighter than the male. Length, nine inches.

* * * * *

This is a richly coloured, handsome little plover; it was familiar to our forbears, and is often mentioned by old British and Continental writers as a very delicate bird to eat--a ‘very daintie dish,’ as Drayton wrote. Much was also said, both in verse and prose, about its supposed foolishness, which was proverbial, so that dull and weakminded persons were compared to the dotterel. It was believed that when the fowler, on approaching the bird, stretched forth an arm, the dotterel responded by stretching out a wing; that when a leg was put forth, the action was immediately copied; and that the bird, being intent on watching and imitating the motions of the man, neglected its own safety, and was taken in the net. The origin of this notion, which was credited by everyone, ornithologists included, for the space of two or three centuries, is no doubt to be found in the fact that the dotterel is less shy and active than most plovers, and, like very many other birds, when approached and disturbed during repose has the habit of stretching out a wing and leg before moving away.

The dotterels arrive in this country in small flocks, called ‘trips,’ about the beginning of May. From the south-east coast, where they first appear, they travel from place to place on their way north. Arrived at their breeding-haunts in Westmorland and Scotland, they are seen at first frequenting heaths, dry pasture-lands, and fallows, but soon retire to the mountains to breed. The nest is a slight depression in the short, dense grass on or a little below the mountain summit, and several pairs are usually found breeding near each other. The eggs are three in number, in colour yellowish olive, spotted and blotched with brownish black.

In August or early in September the dotterels take their departure for the south. It is known that this bird, which was once common in this country, has been diminishing in numbers for many years, and that very few pairs, if any, survive in the Lake District.