Black Plover
Amusement was caused some while ago in the House of Commons as outside by the appearance of " black plover "—a bird that does
not exist—on the menu. This phrase seems to have taken root. Black plover (which in one case meant rooks) have been appearing in the butchers' shops in several small towns ; and the birds are indeed plover, though their right title is green, not black. The green plover is recog- nised as the most beneficent of all birds to the farmer, and is protected in nearly but not quite all counties. To put it on sale is in essentials a defiance of the law, and should not be permitted. Present prices for any sort of food—pigeons, for example, at 5s.—are, of course, a tempta- tion. Why do not the purveyors substitute coot and moorhen, which are becoming a nuisance in a great many districts? Both are edible. One of the habitual crimes of the moorhen where they have become numerous is to puncture the eggs of wild duck and such birds, apparently " merely for wantonness." Since the above was written I see that the " black plover "—most suitable to the black market—is extending its circulation. Letters and editorial comment in The Field are precise on the subject. The sale of plovers' eggs has, I think, been successfully arrested.
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