AND NEIGHBOURHOOD. 5 



and most courteously presented to me by Mr. W. 

 Nichols, of that place, in July 1889. Under date of 

 April 14th, 1 887, my decoy-man wrote : " I saw twenty 

 Dotterels on the 13th, and three on 14th inst."; 

 these birds were noticed by my informant (who is an 

 East Anglian, and perfectly well acquainted with the 

 present species), on a meadow near Aldwincle. On 

 October 6th, 1893, I received a very young Dotterel, 

 shot some two or three days previously on Castor 

 Field, from the Rev. W. Hopkinson, of Sutton 

 Grange near Wansford, who subsequently informed 

 me that another was seen and shot at the same time 

 and place, and sent to Burghley House, where it was 

 considered as a " Short-billed Woodcock," and eaten 

 with great satisfaction. The specimen sent to me, as 

 above mentioned (for identification), was too " high" 

 for preservation, but did not fail to maintain its 

 specific reputation from a culinary point of view. 



On the first arrival of the Dotterel in this country, 

 at the end of April or beginning of May, it may be 

 occasionally met with in small trips on drained 

 marshes, downs, and fallows, generally choosing the 

 most bare and open spots, and on these, if not 

 molested, these little parties remain till late in the 

 latter month, feeding upon beetles, worms, slugs, and 

 grubs. For a long and mosi interesting account of 

 the breeding of this species some fifty years ago in 

 the mountains of the English Lake District, written 

 by the late Mr. T. C. Heysham, I must refer my 

 readers to the fourth edition of ' Yarrell,' vol. iii. I 

 have never been amongst the Dotterels in the 

 breeding-season, but have found them, now and 

 then in considerable numbers, in certain parts of the 

 Highlands of Scotland, and on one high hill in 



