53^ DOTTEREL. 



ties to the north of the valley of the Spey(Harvie-Bro\vn and Buckley). 

 It is said to have visited the Orkneys and Shetlands, but has not 

 yet been recorded from the Outer Hebrides, and is of rare occur- 

 rence on the west side of Scotland. In Ireland it has been obtained 

 as far north as Donegal, but is decidedly uncommon at any season. 



The Pearson Expedition of 1895 found this species nesting on the 

 South Island of Novaya Zemlya, as well as on Waigats in 1897 ; 

 and it breeds in considerable numbers on the fells of Scandinavia. 

 Its eggs and young have been taken on the highlands of Transyl- 

 vania, Styria and Bohemia, but as a rule the bird is chiefly a migrant 

 over the Central part of the Continent and throughout the Mediter- 

 ranean basin, in which Northern Africa, Egypt and Palestine appear 

 to be its winter quarters ; its wanderings extending to the Canaries. 

 From Russia eastward it nests on the tundras and some of the 

 mountains of Siberia as far as the Sea of Okhotsk, and southward 

 to the Ala-tau range ; visiting Turkestan and Persia in winter. 



Mr. Frank Nicholson, who has been in the habit of exploring the 

 Lake district for more than thirty years, says that the eggs 

 never exceed 3 in number; they are usually laid in a depres- 

 sion of the short dense moss, a little below the summits of the 

 mountains, and their colour is a rather oily yellowish-olive, blotched 

 and spotted with brownish-black: measurements i*6 by it in. 

 Incubation seldom begins before the first or second week in 

 June. The food consists of wireworms, beetles and other insects. 

 The trivial as well as the scientific name of this bird refers to its 

 supposed stupidity and the ease with which it allows itself to be 

 approached by a fowler with a net, while watching and even imitating 

 his movements. 



The adult has the crown nearly black, bordered by a broad white 

 loop which runs backwards from each eye and round the nape ; 

 feathers of the upper parts ash-brown, with paler edges and rufous 

 margins to the inner secondaries ; tail-feathers — except the central 

 pair — broadly tipped with white ; chin and throat dull white ; breast- 

 feathers ash-brown, tipped with black at their junction with a white 

 gorget, followed by warm chestnut on the lower breast and flanks ; 

 belly black ; tail-coverts white ; axillaries greyish. Females are 

 sometimes a trifle larger, but seldom brighter, than males. Length 

 9 in. ; wing 6 in. The young bird has the feathers of the crown 

 and upper parts margined with rufous-buff, especially the long inner 

 secondaries ; breast mottled with greyish-brown, and with little 

 indication of the white gorget ; remaining under parts dull white. 



