Page:Cassell's book of birds (IA cassellsbookofbi04breh).pdf/33

 (Charadrius auratus), (Eudromias Morinellus).

frosts, and little meadows of cotton-grass, white as the snow-wreaths that lie on the hills. How prettily they run over the grey moss and lichens, their little feet twinkling, and their full, bright, and soft eyes gleaming as they commence their attempts to entice us away from their chosen retreats." The attempts to lure intruders from their nest, above alluded to, consist in a most excellent feigning of being desperately wounded and unable to fly, or by affecting to have lamed a leg, and thus enticing the enemy to follow the cunning bird, as it slowly retreats in an opposite direction to that occupied by its beloved progeny. When the young are able to fly, the Plovers associate in flocks, which remain on the moors till winter begins, when they quit them for pasture lands. As the season advances, and the cold becomes severe, they descend to the coast, and usually remain in the vicinity of the sea during the winter. Occasionally they are so tame that, according to the authority above quoted, they will allow a sportsman to approach within fifteen yards, and even walk around them several times in order to drive them together before taking aim. "In windy weather," continues Macgillivray, "they often rest by lying flat on the ground, and I have reason to think that at night this is the general practice. In the Hebrides I have often gone to shoot them by moonlight, when they seemed as