384 THE BIRDS OF KENT 



that it is " common in Eomney Marsh in spring and 

 autumn." 



In the Zoologist, 1871, Mr. J. H. Gurney, jun., says : 

 " On September 7, 1871, at Jury Gap, Dungeness, I fell in 

 with five Dotterel at the edge of a brackish pond, which, 

 as is usual with this species, allowed me to come quite 

 near. They are too fat to walk about much, and are 

 very conspicuous a long way off, looking very black when 

 they settle on shingle. I afterwards saw two smaller 

 'trips.' My attendant knew directly what they were, 

 and they are not considered rare at Dungeness. The 

 specimen which I obtained was a young one, very 

 different from the bird in its winter plumage, or as we 

 get it in spring. I have never seen but three like it." 



Mr. W. Prentis says, in his Birds of Bainhani, 1891, 

 that "a young bird was obtained on the Isle of Sheppy, 

 September 18, 1864, and it occurred on the Isle of 

 Elmly, May 3, 1870, and again on May 19, 1876." 



Writing in 1896, Captain Boyd Alexander, in his 

 ornithological notes from liomney Marsh, says : " A pair 

 of Dotterel appeared here on May 29, a rather late date 

 for this species. They remained in a field of young peas 

 close to the shore for several days." 



In 1900 Mr. T. Hepburn writes : May 10 to 14 : " Saw 

 several pairs of these birds on this visit to the beach at 

 Dungeness, but saw none in June or July." 



Genus YANELLUS, Brisson. 

 LAPWING. 



Vanellus vanellus (Linnaeus). S.N., i., p. 248 (1766). 



Peewit ; Green Plover. 

 The Lapwing is very abundant during the breeding 

 season in all the large marshy fields in Kent, especially 



