Grey Plover — Squatarola Helvetica (Linnæus)
Very similar to the Golden Plover in general appearance, but the yellow spots are replaced by whitish, and the hind toe is lacking. A few weeks in spring and autumn along the shore is all the time this bird spends with us; he passes the winter in the warm tropics of Africa, wandering southwards as far as the Cape, and then, obeying some mysterious impulse of which we can form no conception, he journeys in May northwards, and passing over many spots, which would to our ignorant eyes afford him food and shelter sufficient for the rearing of his young, he seeks out the wild and lonely tundras of Europe and Siberia.
There during the eternal day of an Arctic summer he rears his family, and as soon as they can fly, old and young are back again on our shores. For some weeks they remain, slowly passing to the south, and, unlike the Golden Plover, rarely coming inland; but by the middle of October they are all back enjoying once more the burning sun of the tropics.
The white tail coverts and absence of the hind toe will prevent any confusion between this species and the Golden Plover. Length 11·5 in.; wing 7·75 in.