IIE DOT CERES. 351 
represented in our markets: this is occasioned by the ease with which 
it can be either shot or netted. 
The Dotterel is a little larger than a Blackbird. It visits us in 
March and September, and numerous flocks of these birds frequent 
the vast plains of France. This is the bird which seems to persist 
in sacrificing itself to the sportsman’s gun when its companion has 
fallen a victim before the murderous weapon. It also shows the 
simplicity of believing that drunken people must be animated with 
the kindest feelings towards it; so much so, that it 1s only requisite 
to exhibit the outward signs of bacchanalian excitement, and the 
birds will be filled with a sense of false security, so that you may 
approach within a few yards of them. 
Fig. 142.—Common Dotterel. 
The Dotterel has produced the reputation for the pazé de Chartres : 
the bird’s personal experience should long ago have convinced it how 
heavy the burden of renown sometimes proves. They have, in fact, 
been so much sought after, that they have been almost annihilated. 
The Ringed Dotterel (Charadrius hiaticula) is about half the size 
of a Blackbird. It is distinguished by its black collar, and also by its 
extraordinarily brilliant and gold-coloured eyes. In former days this 
bird had the credit of being able to cure the jaundice. All that was 
necessary was for the sick person to look fixedly at the bird’s eyes, 
with a firm faith in the success of the experiment ; under these con- 
ditions the bird was obliging enough to relieve him of his malady. 
This superstitious idea has departed to join all the rest of the medical 
opinions of the Middle Ages. 
The Common Dotterel (Charadrius morinellus, Fig. 142) much 
