DOTTEREL 333 



which is cited in his Historice Animalium, lib. iii. p. 615 (1585), and 

 is rendered by Willughby as follows : " It is taken in the night-time 

 by the light of a candle by imitating the gesture of the Fowler : For if 

 he stretches out an Arm, that also stretches out a Wing ; if he a Foot, 

 that likewise a Foot : In brief, whatever the Fowler doth, the same doth 

 the Bird ; and so being intent upon men's gestures it is deceived, and 

 covered with the Net spread for it." No doubt the dotterel stretch 

 out their wings and legs not in imitation of the fowlers, but as birds 

 generally do when disturbed from a period of rest, as opined by a 

 gentleman of Norfolk, w r hose account of dotterel netting given to 

 Willughby's " very good friend Mr. Peter Dent of Cambridge," includes 

 the following: "The Birds being awakened do often stretch them- 

 selves, putting out a Wing or a Leg, and in imitation of these, the 

 men that drive them thrust out an Arm or a Leg for fashion sake, 

 to comply with an old custom." 1 



The history of the dotterel is, however, by no means entirely of 

 the past, and although they come in such small numbers as generally 

 to escape notice, they are occasionally recorded as being seen about 

 the old resting-places in early spring. Dr. Ticehurst considers it 

 doubtful whether the numbers that now use the route through Kent 

 are " more than can be counted on the fingers of two hands." A few, 

 however, are regularly observed, and these, he thinks, are probably part 

 of the actual British breeding stock. 2 A trip of eighteen birds was seen 

 by Mr. Aplin in Oxfordshire on April 27, 1892, and he wrote to the Field 

 an interesting account of their habits. They never once, while under 

 observation, moved from a fifteen acre field of young barley. They 

 were tame, allowing as near an approach as thirty yards. Nearer than 

 that the birds began to run very fast Mr. Aplin described them as 

 quicker runners than any plover he knew, and if pressed they flew 

 up with sharp whistles, circled round, and settled farther off. They 

 fed in "loose order" with the usual plover-like action, running a few 

 steps and then stopping abruptly to pick up som ething. They stood 



1 Willughby, Ornithology, p. 309. - Ticehurst, Birds of Kent, p. 416. 



