DESCRIPTION OF THE DOTTRELL. 249 



spotted with white ; eyes dark, large, and full ; over 

 the eyes is a white band, which bends downwards, and 

 passes to the hind head ; the sides of the head and 

 throat white, surrounded by a broad band of light 

 olive colour, bordered on the under side with white ; 

 fore part of the neck of a cinereous olive, mixed with a 

 little white next the throat ; the middle of the feathers 

 of the back and coverts of the wings and tail olive, but 

 the edges of a dull deep yellow ; the greater quills are 

 brown ; the outer edge of the shaft of the first feathers, 

 the lower part of the next, bounded with a line of black, 

 beneath it another of white ; the breast and sides of a 

 pale dull orange ; middle of the belly black ; lower 

 parts of the belly and thighs rufous white ; tail olive 

 brown, near the end a bar of dusky white, the tip white : 

 the legs are dark olive, and it wants the back toe, 

 resembling, in this, the green plover. 



The colours of the female in general are duller, the 

 white over the eye narrower, and the crown of the head 

 mottled with brown and white. The black on the belly 

 is mixed with white, and the white line on the breast is 

 narrower. 



The dottrell feeds on worms and small land snails, but 

 when they leave the marshes and betake themselves to 

 the hilly parts of the country, it is for the sake of 

 beetles, which form their favourite food. Their flesh is 

 very delicate. 



