Gould observed 'Easy and graceful in all its actions...if the weather be lowery, and black clouds form a background...the bird becomes a conspicuous object... At first in the downy state, these little chicks are very beautifully marbled with moss-like brown and buff; but this costume is very soon thrown off...'

An adult bird is depicted feeding young, about three days old. The plants are the Stonecrop and Common Thrift.

DISTRIBUTION: Holarctic distribution. Breeds Eurasia, North America, and West Indies. Winters from south Europe, south Asia, and coastal southern United States, and locally south to southern Africa, Australia and southern South America. In Britain numbers have declined this century but new areas have been colonised, particularly on man-made sites such as gravel pits