GREAT PLOVER. 177 



killed it, if he had had his gun with him. It is now 

 many years since one of these noble birds was last 

 seen in this neighbourhood. Persons are living, 

 however, who remember them to have been by no 

 means infrequent. 



GREAT PLOVER. * 



Sept. 29, 1830. MY brother, while shooting to- 

 day near Alington Hill, observed his dog make a 

 point, and, on going up, found a specimen of the 

 great plover, or stone curlew, which he secured 

 alive. It proved to be a young bird of the year, 

 which had in all probability been bred in the neigh- 

 bourhood. After it was killed we opened it, and 

 found the stomach to contain gravels mixed with 

 the half-digested remains of coleopterous insects, 

 amongst which the legs and elytra of some of the 

 larger carabidce were very conspicuous. These birds 

 are not very uncommon about here some seasons; 

 and in spring I occasionally hear their shrill start- 

 ling cry, as they pass over the village late in the 

 evening. The earliest period I have known them to 

 occur is the 3rd of April. 



DOTTEREL.f 



May 7, 1829. A NEIGHBOUR of ours shot some 

 dotterel this morning on the open lands about 

 Great Wilbraham, which were sent to me for exa- 



* (Edicnemm crepitans, Temm. 

 f Charadrius morinellus, Linn. 



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