154 ALLEN'S NATURALIST'S LIBRARY. 



line of black down the centre of the forehead; round the 

 back of the head a creamy-white band. 



Range in Great Britain. The Dotterel still breeds in the 

 mountainous portions of the north of England and Scotland, 

 but undoubtedly in decreasing numbers. It passes north- 

 ward in spring, and affects the higher ground on its way north, 

 but does not nest anywhere south of Cumberland. It is a very 

 rare bird in Wales and on the western coasts of England and 

 Scotland, as well as in Ireland. On its journey south in autumn, 

 the Dotterel is sometimes shot on the sea-coast,but the birds then 

 met with are principally young ones ; and that the species occa- 

 sionally stays with us somewhat late on the autumn migration, 

 -is proved by an immature bird in the British Museum, pre- 

 sented by the Hon. W. Edwardes, who shot it in Pembroke- 

 shire on the 23rd of November. 



Range outside the British Islands. The Dotterel breeds on the 

 high fells of Scandinavia, and also on the tundras of Russia, 

 Siberia, and Novaya Zemlya, as well as on certain of the high- 

 lands of Central Europe, and Central and Eastern Siberia. 

 In winter it visits Persia and the countries of the Mediterranean. 



Habits. The Dotterel migrates somewhat late in the season, 

 arriving at its northern haunts at the end of April or the begin- 

 ning of May. Small flocks arrive at these times, and for about 

 a fortnight, according to the notes of the late Mr. Heysham, 

 the birds frequented the fallows and barren pasture-grounds, 

 retiring later to the higher ground near the tops of the moun- 

 tains to breed. They are very tame birds, and the name of 

 " Dotterel " is supposed to have been acquired from the 

 foolish confidence with which they would allow a fowler to 

 approach and capture them with a net. Even in their winter 

 quarters, the Dotterels are remarkably tame, and Canon 

 Tristram relates how he found them in large flocks on the 

 steppe-lands of Palestine, when they ran almost under the 

 very feet of the horses. 



The altitude at which the nest of the Dotterel is placed, 

 renders the taking of the nest by no means an easy matter. 

 Mr. Frank Nicholson has for many years studied the Dot- 

 terel on the high Cumberland mountains, and has taken 

 many nests there, while Mr. Ogilvie-Grant and some brother- 



