RINGED PLOVER. 211 



from the movements of parties of visitors, that its 

 extinction in those locahties cannot l)e far distant. I 

 am not aware of its nesting anywhere inland, hut in 

 winter it is frequently seen, and sometimes in consider- 

 ahle numbers, on many of the fresh-water reservoirs. 

 At this season it is much more plentiful everywhere, and 

 the flocks are, no doubt, greatly augmented by migrants. 

 The earliest eggs are laid by the middle of April, but great 

 numbers of l)irds remain unpaired a month later, and as 

 young in down may be found up to the middle of August, 

 it is very probable that more than one family' is brought 

 up by each pair. The shingle, just above high- water mark, 

 is most frequently chosen as the nesting-place, though 

 sheltered positions among the sand-hills are also favoured, 

 and a slight hollow is scooped out, sometimes lined with 

 fragments of shells and stones. The number of eggs is, 

 I believe, invariably four. 



GENUS EUDROMIAS. 



DOTTEEEL. 



EuDROMiAS MORiNELLUS (Linnffius). 



The only case I have met with of the Dotterel's occur- 

 rence during the autumn migration happened September 

 22nd 188-4, when five birds, going S.W., passed close by 

 a man named Cookson, who at the time was working his 

 cymbal-nets on Tarleton Moss. In spring, though much 

 less plentiful than formerly, it still appears and remains 

 for a few weeks, as it did in Pennant's time (" Brit. Zool.," 

 1776-77), on the fallows bordering the lower reaches of 

 the Eibble. It occurs sometimes at Formby and the 

 mouth of the Alt, and used regularly to frequent Pilling 

 and Winmarleigh Mosses, being so numerous forty 



p 2 



