o4 BRITISH BIRDS' NESTS. 



Time. — May and June. 



Bem((rl->i. — Resident, but subject to inuch local 

 moveiiieut. Notes, lial-era, Ixalxera, uttered during 

 the breeding season. Local and other names : Rain 

 Goose, Kakera, Cobble, Speckled Diver, Spratoon, 

 Sprat-borer. Not a very close sitter. 



DOTTEREL. 



Description of Parent Birds. — Length about nine 

 and a half inches. Bill of medium length, straight 

 and black. Irides dark brown. Crown and nape 

 blackish-brown. A broad white line runs from the 

 base of the beak, over the eye, down behind the 

 ear-coverts, which are ash-coloured, as also are the 

 neck and back. ^Yings ash-brown, except quills, 

 which are ash-grey. Tail olive-brown tipped with 

 white ; chin white ; throat and sides of neck grey. 

 A white gorget-like band, bordered on either side 

 b}^ a dark line, runs across the breast and ends 

 at each shoulder. Breast pale, dull orange; belly 

 black ; vent and under tail-coverts white, slightly 

 tinged with buff. Legs and toes greenish-yellow ; 

 claws black. 



The female is a little larger, and more hand- 

 somely marked. 



fiituation and LocaJitij. — On the ground amongst 

 woolly-fringe moss and other coarse mountain 

 vegetation, on high, wild moorland districts and 

 lonely mountains of Scotland. It used to breed 

 in the Lake District until recently, but I think 

 the greed of the fly-fisher has for ever sealed 

 its doom so far as England is concerned. I 

 am myself an ardent fly-fisher, and have been 

 offered handsome sums of monev in mv artificial 



