DOTTEREL 837 



therefore an old male mated with a young female might look much 

 alike. It is also doubtful whether the full breeding plumage is 

 assumed by all the British-breeding birds. The few birds I have 

 dissected showed a very decided advantage both in size and colour 

 in favour of the female. With regard to the incubation period, 

 Heysham gave it as 18 to 20 days, and a similar time probably 

 copied from Heysham is given by Naumann. Judging by the 

 average time taken by other species of Waders, it is probably longer 

 than twenty days. Until the young are hatched, the old birds are 

 shy and retiring, leaving the nest, as a rule, while an intruder is 

 still a long way off, but some individuals sit fairly close, and some- 

 times a bird shows unconcern for its own safety when its nest is 

 discovered. Heysham stated that they are very silent during incuba- 

 tion, although when the young are hatched they fly to and fro over 

 the head of an intruder, uttering an alarm-note. He related of three 

 or four pairs observed on Robinson on the 3rd of July that they 

 were very tame, allowing a near approach without showing any 

 symptoms of alarm. " Some would move slowly about and pick up an 

 insect, others would remain motionless, now and then stretching out 

 their wings, and a few would occasionally toy with each other, at the 

 same time uttering a few low notes, which had some resemblance to 

 those of the common linnet." One bird, put off its eggs, " immediately 

 spread out its wings and tail, which it trailed on the ground a short 

 distance, and then went away without uttering a single note." l This 

 habit would appear to be quite usual, and has been several times 

 recorded by more recent observers. Mr. A. Buxton, who found 

 dotterel nesting on a moss-covered plateau on a hill in Scotland in 

 1906, thus describes the action of a bird when put off the nest : 

 " She put her bill on the moss, spread and stiffened her wing and tail 

 feathers so that their tips touched the ground, and then proceeded to 

 balance herself on her throat, squeaking all the time and kicking out 

 her legs in the air behind her." This took place while Mr. Buxton 



1 Magazine of Natural History, ii. p. 295. 



