into wild, wailing trills and twitterings that seem part of the deepening gloom and sad sky; for Nature's own sadness seems to speak in the voice of these birds. These melancholy sounds swell and subside and swell again as they are caught up and repeated in different places, from one bird to another, and often swell into a full chorus of several together. This note in its entirety is only uttered by the bird whilst on the ground. That uttered during flight is a simple wail like the ending of the above. It is difficult to judge of the whereabouts of the birds by their cry, and they often seem to be much nearer than they really are.
The dance-antics are varied with little flights over the ground, if these may not rather be said to be a part of them. In one of these the bird takes its departure, thus dancing off, as it were.
Rain would seem, sometimes at least, to have an exhilarating effect, causing the bird to come out from its cover into it,[1] and begin the dance-antics earlier than it would otherwise have done.
When thus leaving for the night, they rarely or never fly silently, but utter the simple, short wail (short, that is, by comparison). This is more particularly as they leave the assembly-place, or are still near it.
During the night they feed over the general surface of the country, preferring, probably, the "fat," or cultivated lands.
In the very early dawn they fly back to their assembly grounds, and this morning-flight is mostly in silence. Only rarely is a wail uttered, but the ground-note is now sometimes heard, though it is much less full and striking than in the evening. The birds may very likely feed towards home, and fly to it when at a certain distance. Some possibly may arrive on foot.[2]
Besides these two notes (the ground one and that of flight) the Great Plover has a few others, the most pronounced of which
- ↑ The birds when thus seen by me stretched (once or twice, I think) the wing up for the under part to get the rain, as does a Pigeon. I forgot to note this down, and also that on another occasion rain seemed to have no effect on them. But I was not there when it first came on, and could stay only a short time.
- ↑ My having heard the ground-note at early dawn, when the birds were flying back, very near to (as far as I could judge), but not quite at, the place of assembly, suggests this.
