DOTTEREL 289 



Dotterel. 



Endromias morinellus. 



Crown dusky black, bordered by a white band extending back- 

 wards from the eye round the nape ; upper parts ash-brown, the 

 inner secondaries margined with rufous ; tail-feathers broadly 

 tipped with white, except the middle pair ; throat dull white ; upper 

 breast ash-brown ; white gorget or band lower breast, and flanks 

 bright chestnut ; belly black ; tail-coverts white. The female is 

 larger and brighter than the male. Length, nine inches. 



This is a richly coloured, handsome little plover; it was familiar 

 to our forbears, and is often mentioned by old British and Continental 

 writers as a very delicate bird to eat a ' very daintie dish,' as 

 Drayton wrote. Much was also said, both in verse and prose, about 

 its supposed foolishness, which was proverbial, so that dull and weak- 

 minded persons were compared to the dotterel. It was believed 

 that when the fowler, on approaching the bird, stretched forth an 

 arm, the dotterel responded by stretching out a wing ; that when a 

 leg was put forth, the action was immediately copied ; and that the 

 bird, being intent on watching and imitating the motions of the 

 man, neglected its own safety, and was taken in the net. The origin 

 of this notion, which was credited by everyone, ornithologists in- 

 cluded, for the space of two or three centuries, is no doubt to be 

 found in the fact that the dotterel is less shy and active than most 

 plovers, and, like very many other birds, when approached and 

 disturbed during repose has the habit of stretching out a wing and 

 leg before moving away. 



The dotterels arrive in this country in small flocks, called ' trips,' 

 about the beginning of May. From the south-east coast, where 

 they first appear, they travel from place to place on their way north. 

 Arrived at their breeding-haunts in Westmorland and Scotland, 

 they are seen at first frequenting heaths, dry pasture-lands, and 

 fallows, but soon retire to the mountains to breed. The nest is a 

 slight depression in the short, dense grass on or a little below the 

 mountain summit, and several pairs are usually found breeding near 

 each other. The eggs are three in number, in colour yellowish olive, 

 spotted and blotched with brownish black. 



In August or early in September the dotterels take their departure 



