DOTTEREL. 



Chaeadriid^.] 



EUDEOMIAS MORINELLUS (Linmus). 



Explanation of Plate. 



Figure 1. Lapland; H. W. Wheelwright coll. In collection of H. Massey, Esq. 

 „ 2. Ditto. Ditto. 



„ 3. Ditto. Ditto. 



„ 4. English Lake District, July 19, 1894; J. H. Salter coll. In collection of 



J. H. Salter, Esq. 

 „ 5. Ditto. Ditto. 



„ 6. Russia, June 12, 1882. In collection of H. Massey, Esq. 

 „ 7. Lapland; H. W. Wheelwright coll. Ditto. 



„ 8. Tornea Lappmark, June 10, 1891. 



The Dotterel is chiefly known as a spring and autumn migrant, a few pairs 

 remaining to breed in the English Lake District and in certain parts of Scotland. 

 It is rare in Ireland. 



Mr. Frank Nicholson, who has had an unequalled acquaintance Avith the 

 nesting habits of the Dotterel in the English Lake District, communicated his 

 experiences to Messrs, Macpherson and Duckworth for their ' Birds of Cumber- 

 land.' The following is an extract from Mr. Nicholson's narrative * : — 



" It is doubtful if the Dotterel ever bred freely on the mountains of Cumber- 

 land and Westmorland, at least during the last hundred years. From the 

 evidence of shepherds and men whose memory extends back to early in the 

 century, it would seem that the Dotterel was never very numerous as a breeding 

 species, but that it appeared very regularly each season, about the middle of May, 

 in small flocks or trips of twelve or fourteen birds in each, on the tops of the 

 highest mountains, where it spent a few days before pairing off and dispersing 

 over the neighbouring hills for nesting purposes. During the last thirty years, 

 judging from my own observations, the species seems to have been gradually 

 disappearing from the district, until in this year (1885), I only saw three pairs 



MAY 1 6 191* 



* ' Birds of Cumberland,' pp. 134-136. "''^' ° 



