BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 81 



below, with a black band across the breast. They are 

 adepts at squatting motionless and making themselves 

 almost invisible. They sometimes try to escape detection 

 in this way after they are well able to fly, and may thus 

 be caught. The immature bird's plumage is very 

 similar to the adult's, but the crest is shorter. The 

 adult female's crest is slightly shorter than her mate's, 

 and both old birds have white throats in winter. 



THE DOTTEREL 



(Eudromias morinellus). 



The Dotterel occurs in Britain chiefly as a bird of 

 passage to and from its home on the tundras ; but it 

 also nests in very small numbers in the Lake District, 

 the Grampians, and the Cairngorms, always at high 

 altitudes. Collectors are doing their best to drive it even 

 from these haunts, except where the proprietors of the moors 

 interest themselves in its protection. The white gorget, 

 warm chestnut under-parts, and comparatively small size, 

 are points for identification. Of its nesting habits we 

 can only say that three is in its case the normal clutch, 

 and that the eggs have dark markings on a gi-eenish- 

 yellow ground. The name ' Dotterel ' is widely misapplied 

 to the next species. 



THE RINGED PLOVER 



(iCgialitis hiaticola). 



Plate 27. 



Among the last Waders that we have to deal with 

 is the common representative of a group of small 

 Plovers, characterised by light sandy-brown upper-parts 



K 



