DOTTEREL 383 



to die, bat doubtless it has only been hatched a few 

 hours. I doubt whether the hollow in which it lay was 

 the true nest ; and where were the other three ? The old 

 birds, though exceedingly clamourous with their pipings, 

 did not in any way feign injury or attempt to draw us 

 away from their helpless young one, in the manner that 

 so many species in this order are in the habit of doing. 

 The eggs of the Ringed Plover are most difficult to find, 

 and one might look over acres of this shingly waste with- 

 out finding a nest ; but, curiously enough, though one 

 hollow on the beach would seem as good as any other, 

 the birds appear to have their own particular favourite 

 spots, and if one is ' in the know ' it is far easier to find 

 them. The fishermen's lads know exactly in which part 

 of the beach to look for nests, and are quite adepts at it. 

 The pebbles among which the eggs repose exactly match 

 the buffish-brown ground-colouring of the eggs, and, 

 furthermore, the pebbles in many cases bear black or 

 very dark spottings and markings, almost exactly like 

 those on the egg-shells ; in fact, several times I stooped 

 to pick up a pebble that was so much like an egg that 

 I was temporarily deceived." 



Genus EUDROMIAS, C. L. Brehm. 

 DOTTEEEL. 



Eudromias tnorinellus (Linnseus). S.N., i., p. 254 



(1766). 

 Land Dotterel. 



The Dotterel is only a spring and autumn visitor to 

 Kent, and far from plentiful at any time. It generally 

 keeps to the higher and more open land along the coast. 



The Rev. J. Pemberton Bartlett, writing in 1844, states 



