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Wary and circumspect as this bird may be, day is its natural season of rest when it crouches behind a stone or clod, and night its period of activity; it seeks its food by night, tripping over the dewy turf, when darkness is its protection; its prey accordingly consists of such animals as come abroad at the same hour; these are worms, beetles, the larvae of insects, reptiles, and even small mammalia; while thus engaged, it may be heard frequently uttering its note, a loud and shrill whistle, supposed to be a call to its mate.

Like the bustard, it makes no nest," but deposits its eggs on the surface of the earth, in fallow or other bare ground, especially where flint stones are abundant, as their similarity to the bird and its eggs furnish great means of safety from its enemies." The eggs are two in number, and are of a light yellowish brown, with darker streaks and blotches. The young follow their parents immediately after being excluded from the egg, and are then covered with a mottled gray down, which gradually gives place to the proper plumage, till, in six weeks or two months, they are enabled to fly and provide for themselves.

The cares of the breeding season being over, the flocks which had scattered themselves over the downs, each pair being intent upon the rearing of its own brood, now re-assemble, increased by their young, and prepare to quit our inclement skies, for the southern latitudes of Europe, or the adjacent regions of Africa and Asia, to return with the warmth of the following spring. Its flesh is of little value.

The general plumage of the upper surface is of a reddish ash colour, each feather having a central streak of umber brown. Neck and chest yellowish white, streaked with brown; throat white; quills black; under surface white; legs yellow. Length sixteen inches.

Next is the genus Cursorius, which is also very limited, including only five or six species, closely united to each other in habits, manners, and style of plumage.

The generic characters are as follows: beak shorter than the head, slightly arched, and pointed; nostrils oval, surmounted by a small protuberance; tarsi long and slender ; toes three before, and very short; wings pointed.

The species of the present genus are all natives of the sultry climates of Africa and Asia, and it is only by accident that individuals of one of the species appear in the middle districts of Europe. They frequent sandy sterile plains, often far from water; they run with amazing celerity, and their flight is rapid and powerful.

The species placed among European birds, from the circumstance of its accidental visits, is the CREAM-COLOURED COURSER, or Swift-foot. (Cursorius Isabellinus, MEYER.) Three instances are on record of its having been seen in England; nor does it appear that its capture in the neighbouring continent has been at all more frequent. It is a native of Africa, and more especially Abyssinia, where it is very numerous; its sandy coloured plumage assimilating with the hue of the barren deserts, over whose expanse it speeds along, on foot, with incredible swiftness, in pursuit of its food: this consists principally of such insects as are there abundant. The general plumage is of a delicate fawn colour above, lighter beneath; the back of the head and the quill-feathers being black; but a white streak extends from above the eye to the back of the neck, beneath which, beginning behind the eye, runs a similar streak of black. Outer tailfeathers dusky near their tips. Beak black; tarsi pale yellowish olive. The young birds have their plumage varied by dusky transverse bars, and want the black patch at the back of the head. Length nine inches.

We now come to the true Plovers, which, though they are still divided into several genera, are, nevertheless, closely united together by a general similarity of habits. Of these the genus Charadrius is the most typical. It is characterized by the beak being slender, straight, compressed, and shorter than the head; the nostrils being

longitudinal slits in a membrane at the base. Tarsi moderate. Toes three before, none behind. Wings moderate, and pointed.

The genus Charadrius comprehends the Golden Plover, the Dotterel, the Ringed Plover, and the Kentish Plover, all natives of the British isles, besides many allied species peculiar to other parts of the globe; for, as regards geographical distribution, it is widely extended. Some species are inhabitants of open districts and wild wastes, both dry and marshy, whence they retire to the coast during the severity of winter. Others are constantly resident upon low extensive sand banks or beds of shingle about the mouths of rivers, or along a flat line of seashore. They associate in flocks, except during the immediate season of incubation, and after this period the old birds assemble again, for the purpose of migration, in which they precede the young; these, in similar bands, take their departure soon after. Insects and their larvæ, together with worms, constitute their food; and most are nocturnal feeders. Both on foot and on wing their speed is very considerable. Their moult is double, that is, both in spring and autumn, and their summer and winter plumage is often strikingly different. They deposit their eggs (which are always four in number) on the ground, or among the shingles of the beach, and generally without any artificial nest. The flesh of most is accounted excellent.

As the clearest and best example we shall select the GOLDEN PLOVER, ( Charadrius pluvialis, LIN.) The markets of London are abundantly supplied with this bird during the winter season, its flesh being esteemed but little inferior to that of the woodcock; so that in the plumage of that portion of the year it is doubtless well known to many of our readers. The upper parts of the body are dark brown, beautifully spangled with golden yellow; the under parts, in winter, being dusky white, with darker marks on the chest; in March, however, a few black feathers appear on the breast, which gradually

augment in number, till at length, in May, a broad expanse of jet black, beginning above the beak, covers the front of the neck, the chest, and the under parts of the body. The margin of this black is bounded abruptly by a line of white, blending at its outer edge with the rest of the plumage. In the autumn this expanse of black disappears, and the dusky gray above described assumes its place.

Spread over the whole of Europe, the Golden Plover is by no means uncommon in our islands, frequenting heaths and swampy moors, but especially the barren hilly districts of Scotland and the adjacent counties, where it breeds; its nest consists of a few fibres of grass, in some favourable situation on the ground, among the heath.

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The young, when hatched, are covered with a beautiful parti-coloured 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 course of a month or five weeks. The old birds display great anxiety in protecting their young brood, using various stratagems to divert the attention of an enemy; among others, that of tumbling over as if unable to fly, or feigning lameness, is the most frequent, and appears indeed to be the instinctive resort of those birds that construct their nests and rear their young on the ground. When aware of the approach of an intruder, the female invariably runs to some distance from her nest before she takes wing, a manœuvre tending to conceal its true situation; and the discovery of it is rendered still more difficult by the colour and markings of the eggs, assimilating so closely to that of the ground and surrounding herbage. The usual call of the Plover is a plaintive monotonous whistle, by imitating which it may frequently be enticed within a very short distance. In the breeding season a more varied call is used, during which it flies at a great elevation, and continues soaring round for a considerable time." To the whistling of the Plover, our poet Thomson elegantly alludes in his opening lines on spring, while yet "the trembling year is

unconfirm'd," so that "scarce the bittern knows his time,"

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The Plovers when to scatter o'er the heath,

And sing their wild notes to the listening waste."

Towards the end of August, the duties of rearing their offspring being over, the Golden Plovers congregate in large flocks, which visit the fallows and newly-sown wheat-fields, where they sojourn till the severity of winter drives them to the shore. Here many remain, but some pass to the continent. The flight of this bird is strong and rapid, and the flocks, when disturbed, wheel round, and perform many evolutions in the air before they venture to settle again. Night is their time for feeding; during the day they rest crouched upon the ground, or standing with the head drawn down between the shoulders. Their food consists of worms, slugs, the larvæ of insects, &c.

Here we may pass to the genus Vanellus, distinguished from the True Plovers, (Charadrius,) chiefly by the presence of a very small hind toe. The bill is short and straight, the tarsi slender, the wings ample, and armed with a tubercle, or a sharp spur, just below the elbow-joint. The head is generally crested, or furnished with singular fleshy wattles about the base of the bill. The birds of this genus are inhabitants of open ground and plains, where the soil is moist and oozy; they feed on worms and insects.

The well-known LAPWING, or Pewit, (Vanellus cristatus,) is a good example.

This bird, one of the most beautiful and elegant of its family, is abundant in many parts of our island, as well as of the continent, especially Holland, where it assembles in immense flocks, multitudes being annually taken in autumn and winter for the table: its flesh at that season is of excellent flavour; but is said to be dry and unpalatable in summer. Nor are the eggs less relished than the

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