150 THE RIVER-SIDE NATURALIST. 



THE DOTTEREL. 



The DOTTEREL (Charadrius morinellus; family, Chari- 

 driadce) (the two Latin words literally mean " the dull bird, 

 which, if looked upon, cures one of the jaundice." Chara- 

 drius is so translated in Ainsworth's Latin Dictionary) is 

 occasionally met with on the Cumberland and Westmore- 

 land moors. 



Whether dull or not, the bird furnishes the artificial- 

 fly makers with feathers, taken from the wings, the colour 

 of which they can get from no other source, and, therefore, 

 a fly made of a dotterel-wing is highly prized. Bewick 



THE DOTTEREL. 



says : " The dotterel is said to be very stupid, and easily 

 taken with the most simple artifice, and that it was 

 formerly the custom to decoy them into a net by stretch- 

 ing out a leg or an arm, which caught the attention of 

 the birds, so that they returned it by a similar motion of 

 a leg or a wing, and were not aware till the net dropped 

 over them, and covered the whole covey." This is taken 

 from Willughby, who translated it from Gesner's Historic? 

 Animalium. Willughby says : " It is taken in the night- 

 time by the light of a candle by imitating the gesture of 



