298 DOTTEREL. 



insects, particularly the Coleoptera, many species 

 of which are extremely abundant on the coasts, 

 and come abroad in numbers during the heat of 

 the day. 



A specimen killed in Dumfries-shire, in the end of 

 March, has the crown clove-brown, bordered above 

 each eye with white, which meets at the occiput ; 

 the chin, cheeks, and throat, are white ; the whole 

 upper parts of the body, neck, and upper part of 

 breast, hair-brown ; the feathers on the back and 

 wings edged with pale orange-brown ; immedi- 

 ately bordering the hair-brown on the breast, the 

 feathers are tipped with dark edges, forming a 

 narrow band, this is succeeded by a white gor- 

 get, gradually shading into rich brownish-orange, 

 which occupies the whole lower part of the breast 

 and belly, blending into a deep black conspicuous 

 patch in the centre of the latter; the vent and 

 tmder tail-coverts white ; the quills are dark hair- 

 brown, the first with a strong and conspicuous 

 white shaft ; the tail hair-brown, darker towards 

 the tip, forming almost a bar across the ends of 

 the three outward white feathers. This is nearly 

 the plumage in the breeding time; the females 

 have the colours of the breast scarcely so bright 

 or marked. When these colours have been put off, 

 the lower parts, we believe, are nearly white, and 

 the crown loses the depth of its shade. Birds, 

 however, are not frequently met with in this state, 

 and a minute description is not given in any of 

 our works. 



