CHARADRIDZR. 327 
legs, toes and claws are nearly black. The young 
birds of the year are brown, with yellow spots on the 
upper parts, both colours being strongly mixed with 
greyish ash. 
The egg is pear-shaped, a sort of olive-brown, 
spotted with dark brown; but the eggs are subject 
to considerable variety, as will appear by the follow- 
ing note of Mr. Saxby’s in the ‘ Zoologist’ for 1863, 
p. 8725:—“'The general rule appears to be that 
those eggs which are laid early in the season have a 
dingy hue, the ground colour being strongly tinged 
with dull olive-green, and that a little later this 
commences gradually to become less frequent, 
giving place to creamy white, sometimes tinged with 
warm yellowish brown; the latter colour is more 
frequent in June and July, when the breeding season 
is drawing to its close. At this time the spots and 
blotches are very abundant, and more of a reddish 
brown.” 
DotrerEL, Charadrius morinellus. This is a 
tolerably regular summer visitor to some of the more 
northern counties, but is not a very well-known 
species in this county; it is more common, however, 
both in Wiltshire and Dorsetshire. It has probably 
been known to breed in this county, as Yarrell says, 
“The Dotterel is said to breed on the Mendip Hills 
in Somersetshire ;” and Montagu says, “ A person of 
credit who frequents the Mendip Hills declares that 
they breed there, and that he has taken their eggs. 
2FR 
