BRITISH BIRDS. 149 



mark. They are four in number, and vary a good deal in 

 appearance, from c^reenish ^rey to pale buff and cream 

 colour, spotted and lined with black, brown, and grey. 



Both parents assist in the duty of incubation, and the 

 young run about soon after being hatched. Like other 

 members of the famih', it will feign lameness to draw off 

 an intruder from the vicinity of its young, which crouch 

 down among the stones in the midst of which they emerged 

 from the shell, and from which it then takes a very practised 

 eye to distinguish them. 



They feed on worms, seaside insects, shrimps, and 

 various refuse left upon the beach by the retreating tide, 

 into which they often run in pursuit of some attractive 

 morsel. 



Dotterel. — Bill dark horn ; forehea J line grey ; top of 

 head very dark brown, with lighter pencillings ; from 

 above the eye a creamy white line runs down the face to 

 the back of the neck, and another, narrower, from that in 

 a diagonal fashion across the neck ; from the eye a dark 

 brown line -runs down to a point to meet the white one 

 just mentioned ; the rest of the upper parts are brown, 

 lighter on the wing coverts ; the flights are very dark 

 brown, with a greenish tinge ; the chin and upper part of 

 the neck thinly marked with minute black .spots ; the 

 breast is pale slate grey ; below it a broad white mark, 

 with indented margins ; the lower breast rufous brown ; 

 the belly black ; and the vent and under tail coverts buff ; 

 the legs and feet greenish yellow. Length, 9.j inches. 



This species is migrator}' in part, arriving in April and 

 departing in October, but many pairs remain throughout 

 the j-ear in Britain to breed. 



The three or four eggs are deposited among stones, and 

 the nest is difficult to find, in consequence of the grey 

 spotted colour of the eggs. Both sexes seem to share the 



