The claim of the golden plover of Europe to a place in the American list rests on its occurrence not infrequently in Greenland. The latest authority on Greenland birds, Mr. E. Lehn Schiöler, in his great work Danmarks Fugle (vol. 2), refers the Greenland birds to the northern race of European golden plover, Pluvialis apricarius altifrons (Brehm). It is now generally agreed that there are two races of this species, and that the black breast is more strongly developed on the northern form, while the southern race, P. apricarius apricarius (Linnaeus) has only a marbling of black on the breast in spring. In Greenland it has occurred both on the east and west sides, but has not been proved to breed there though suspected of doing so.

Spring.—In the British Isles the northern golden plovers are said by Abel Chapman to arrive in Northumberland as early as mid February, spreading over the lower ground and remaining in packs, while the breeding birds arrive later and are soon distributed over the moors in pairs. While the southern birds remain on the moorlands to breed, the northern visitors pass on to their nesting grounds in the Faroes, Iceland, and Scandinavia.

Courtship.—Our information is, as might be expected, scanty, owing to the inaccessible nature of its breeding ground and its retiring habits. Abel Chapman (1889) describes the loud wild spring call, which he renders as tirr-pee-you, and adds that after this has ceased one hears only the well-known plaintive pipe of alarm and a peculiar rippling song or warble which is wholly indescribable. This, he says, is the joyous note of courtship and is analogous to the drumming of the snipe, etc. A fuller description is that of Seton Gordon (1915) who writes as follows:

During the season of courtship and indeed up to June is heard the song of the golden plover and this song is one of the most striking things in the habits of moorland birds. Before commencing to sing the cock bird mounts into the air to a height of at least 100 feet and flies slowly, deliberately around the spot where his mate is listening to him below, uttering as he flies a musical whistling cry of two syllables sounding like whee-wheeu, the last being long drawn out. His flight during this time is quite distinctive, he no longer cleaves the air with sharp and rapid wing beats, but moves his wings with slow deliberate strokes, holding them V-shaped for an instant between the beats. Should he cease his song—even for a few moments—the normal flight is at once resumed. His cry on these occasions carries over a great stretch of moor, and I think can be heard at a greater distance even than the vibrating notes of the curlew. After some time, during which these long-drawn whistles are regularly continued, the singer shoots earthward, uttering, just as he is reaching the ground, a curious purring cry, repeated rapidly five or six times. On paper the sounds resemble trooeu, trooeu, trooeu. These descriptions apply strictly to the southern race, but the habits of the two forms in the breeding season are identical and the Icelandic birds perform their song flights in the same way as the Scotch birds. Hantzsch points out very justly that the golden plover is not at all quarrelsome in disposition, and though rival males may vie in song with one another they meet frequently quite amicably and the natives have long noted the toleration which the plover extends to the dunlin and which has earned for the latter the name Loa-thraoll, or, as our forefathers put it, Plover’s-page.

Nesting.—There is no concealment about the nest; the vast expanses of moorland or tundra are sufficient protection. Sometimes the nest hollow may be found on a tiny hillock, sometimes in wiry grass or among sparse or burnt heather. Such lining as there is is usually scanty and consists of the materials at hand, leaves, bents, or a bit of heather stem. Unoccupied scrapes may generally be found near at hand. Even where the birds are plentiful, as in some parts of Iceland, the nests are generally a considerable distance apart.

Eggs.—Normally four in number, occasionally three only, especially in late layings. Hantzsch (1905) records one instance of five in a nest, and five have also been met with in the southern race. They are pyriform and laid with the points meeting and are very beautiful. The ground varies from a pale greenish blue to very rich and warm shades of creamy brown, to almost orange, tinged brownish, heavily blotched with irregular markings of deep chocolate or blackish. The measurements of 40 eggs from Iceland average 52.3 by 35.2 millimeters; the eggs showing the four extremes measure 55.1 by 36.4, 51.6 by 38.3, 49.2 by 33.8 and 52.3 by 33.2 millimeters.

Incubation is carried on by both sexes, as Alfred Taylor has watched the male and female change places on the eggs. This explains the rather contradictory accounts from various authors. H. H. Slater, Seebohm, and R. Collett only shot males from the nest, while Saxby, Hantzsch, and Heatherley only saw the female on the eggs. Miss F. Pitt only noted the male on the eggs during the last week of incubation, but flushed the hen once at an earlier period. Early estimates of 16 and 20 days as the incubation period are certainly erroneous. F. Heatherley watched one nest for 24 days, but the eggs were probably laid some days earlier and in an incubator one egg hatched on the 27th day (W. Evans). Although such wary birds, it occasionally happens that a nest is placed in a hollow of the ground from which no view of the country is possible to the sitting bird. Riding at night suddenly up to a nest of this kind in Iceland, we found the incubating bird did not stir from the eggs while three men and ponies stood round, and it was not until a hand was placed within 3 inches that the bird flew off. As a rule, the melancholy piping note is the first intimation of the presence of a breeding pair and shows that they are on the alert.

Young.—The young leave the nest as soon as their down is dried and are cared for by both sexes. They grow very fast, and Hantzsch states that after 10 or 14 days they can flutter a little way, but the full flying period is about 4 weeks.

Plumages.—The plumages and molts are fully described in A Practical Handbook of British Birds, edited by H. F. Witherby (1920).

Food.—On its breeding grounds the food consists of insects, chiefly Coleoptera (Notiophilus, Agriotes, Sitones, Curculio and larvae); Lepidoptera (Agrotis); larvae and imagines of Diptera, Hymenoptera (Formica and Forficula); also Mollusca (small terrestrial species, snails and slugs); Aunclida (earthworms) and Arachnida (spiders). On migration and in winter quarters it has been recorded as eating marine mollusca (Vitrina, Littorina, Rissoa, Lacuna, etc., and fry of Mytilus edulis), also small crustacea (Isopoda) and seeds of various plants (Glaux maritima, Carex, Polygonum, etc.), and berries of Rhamnus, Vaccinium, Empetrum, etc.; also seaweeds (Algae).

Behavior.—Outside the breeding season the golden plover is a gregarious bird, nearly always to be met with in flocks of varying sizes and often associating with flocks of lapwings and feeding together. On the alarm being given, both species take to wing, but in characteristically different ways. The golden plover rise together and form a compact body, maneuvering together in any direction, while the lapwings rise gradually in an unwieldy mass, which breaks up from time to time and the component parts move in different directions. The pointed wings and more rapid strokes of the golden plover also contrast strongly with the slow, flappy, irregular flight of the lapwing. When on migration the golden plovers often adopt a loose V-shaped formation.

Enemies.—The peregrine occasionally takes toll of the flocks in the autumn and spring months, while the skua gulls, or jaegers, and in some districts the hooded crows, destroy eggs or young. The fox, no doubt, occasionally snaps up an isolated nest of eggs or young.

Fall.—About the end of October or early in November the flocks of northern golden plover arrive on the marshes of the east coast of England, sometimes in enormous numbers, but their length of stay is determined by weather conditions, to which they are very susceptible, showing extreme restlessness before the approach of stormy or windy weather and leaving the district altogether in hard winters.

Winter.—Many birds winter on the coast of the British Isles unless the weather is severe, feeding chiefly on small marine mollusca but, as a rule, avoid the mud flats, which are the favorite resort of the grey plover (Squatarola), except occasionally in very dry weather, feeding chiefly on the pasture lands and in the wheat fields in the daytime and leaving at dark for the higher ground.

DISTRIBUTION

Breeding range.—The northern race breeds in Iceland, the Faroes, probably a pair or two on Bear Island, northern Scandinavia, Finland, and North Russia and Siberia to the Yenisei. The southern race breeds in the mountainous parts of the British Isles, southern Scandinavia, Denmark, sparingly in Belgium, Holland, and North Germany, and in Russia south to the Perm Government.

Winter range.—It is not possible to separate the winter ranges of the two forms at present, but golden plover migrate across Europe to the Mediterranean and north Africa, occasionally visiting the Atlantic isles, and are said to have occurred in the Gabun on the west and Somaliland and Lama in East Africa; in Asia its limits are Aden, Baluchistan, and Sind.

Spring migration.—At the Straits of Gibraltar the northern migrants pass in February and March (late date March 6, L. H. Irby), but on the Portuguese coast W. C. Tait states that they leave at the end of February. In the eastern Mediterranean the passage is noted at Cyprus in early March. At Heligoland Gätke says they arrive during May and early June on their way to Scandinavia, but the Icelandic flocks arrive about mid-April as a rule.

Fall migration.—On the southward migration Gätke records the arrival of the birds of the year as early as July, but adds that the old birds only begin to arrive toward the end of October. On the west side of the Mediterranean Tait records the arrival of the earliest birds in October, but the main passage in November; and Farier also notes the passage at Tangier in October and November; while on the eastern side they reach Cyprus about the beginning of November.

Casual records.—Fischer recorded a pair on Jan Mayen on June 29, 1883, and it has occurred on the Azores, but is only a rare straggler, Madeira (recorded by Harcourt and also by Schmitz on January 13, 1896) and the Canaries, where Bannerman describes it as a rare visitor (records scanty and indefinite).

In Africa records from the Cape (J. Verreaux), Lamu, East Africa (Layard), and the Gabun (Du Chaillu) require substantiation. It is also stated to have occurred in Somaliland, but the normal winter quarters lie north of these localities. In Asia it has been shot at Gwadar, Baluchistan, in January, 1872, by W. T. Blanford, and one was obtained by Brooks near Schwan on January 27, 1878, as well as a second at Karachi on January 7, 1919, by Captain Hanna. The only other Indian record is one obtained by Reid at Lucknow. In Greenland (several records).

Egg dates.—Iceland: May 21 to June 1 (5 dates); June 2 to 29 (18 dates). North Norway, June 10 to 20 (5 dates). North Russia and Siberia, June 10 to July 1 (10 dates). Most eggs of the southern race are laid in the British Isles from May 10 onward, but exceptionally eggs have been met with from April 16 to the end of that month, and in Friesland eggs have been taken on April 19.