DOTTEREL. 



393 



shire and Dorsetsliire. In Wiltshire, Berkshire, Hertford- 

 shire, Cambridgeshire, Suffolk, and Norfolk, small flocks, or 

 trips as they are called, of Dotterel are seen in the spring on 

 their way to their breeding-ground, which, in many instances, 

 is very far north, and those or others are again seen in the 

 autumn on their return, their numbers then reinforced by the 

 addition of the young birds of the year. On the chalk hills 

 about Royston on the borders of Hertfordshire and Cam- 

 bridgeshire, these birds have been observed for many years 

 to make their first appearance in each season by the 20th of 

 April ; they are seen for about ten days, some probably 

 moving on to the northward, and their places being supplied 

 for a time by other arrivals from the south. They are found 

 generally on the fallows, or newly ploughed lands near the 

 edges of the downs, or sheep walks, where they appear to feed 

 on worms, slugs, insects, and their larvae. From these coun- 

 ties the birds pass on to more northern localities, and are 

 seen in Lincolnshire, Derbyshire, Yorkshire, Lancashire, 

 Westmoreland, Cumberland, Northumberland, and various 

 parts of Scotland, always inhabiting high ground. They are 

 generally seen in these northern districts in May. Dr. Beck 

 of Copenhagen told me that the Dotterel pass the islands at 

 the mouth of the Baltic about the 1st of June, and disperse 

 over Scandinavia. Professor Nilsson mentions their annual 

 visit to Sweden : Mr. Hewitson saw some on the ploughed 

 fields of Norway : Linnseus says they are frequent in Dale- 

 carlia and the Lapland Alps ; and they are known to go as 

 high as the sixty-seventh degree of north latitude. They are 

 said to breed also in Russia, Siberia, and Northern Asia. 



The best account of the habits of this species at its breed- 

 ing ground, has been supplied by T. C. Heysham, Esq. of 

 Carlisle, from which the following is an extract : — 



" I will now narrate," says this gentleman, " as succinctly 

 as possible, what has fallen under my own observation relative 



