30 ON THE OCCURRENCE OF THE DOTTEREL IN DORSET. 



finely spotted here and there with greyish brown. Bill, black, 

 Irides dark brown. Legs, pale olive green, soles, bright yellow." 



We extract the following from the same volume, as it appears 

 to us to be the best description we have seen of this rare and 

 interesting bird. * 



" The Dotterel is a summer visitor only to this country. 

 Making its appearance in the South-eastern Counties of Eng- 

 land towards the end of April, and does not seem to go in any 

 numbers for the westward. Mr. Thompson says it is a rare 

 visitant to Ireland, it has not been seen more than once or twice 

 in Cornwall, and only occasionally in Devonshire and Dorset- 

 shire. In Wiltshire, Berkshire, Hertfordshire, Cambridgeshire, 

 Suffolk and Norfolk, small flocks, or trips as they are called, of 

 Dotterel are seen in the spring on Iheir way to their breeding 

 ground, which, in many instances, is very far north, and those, 

 or others, are again seen in the autumn on their return, their 

 numbers then reinforced by the addition of the young birds of 

 the year. On the chalk hills about Eoyston on the borders of 

 Hertfordshire and Cambridgeshire, these birds have been 

 observed for many years to rnaks their first appearance in each 

 season by the 20th of April'; they are seen for about ten days 

 some probably moving on to the northward, and their places 

 being supplied for a time by other arrivals from the south. 

 They are found generally on the fallows, or newly ploughed lands 

 near the edge of the downs, or sheep walks, where they appear 

 to feed on worms, slugs, insects, and their larvse. From these 

 counties the birds pass on to more northern localities, and are 

 seen in Lincolnshire, Derbyshire, Yorkshire, Lancashire, West- 

 moreland, Cumberland, Northumberland, and various parts of 

 Scotland, always inhabiting high ground. They are generally 

 seen in these northern districts in May. 



Dr. Beck, of Copenhagen, told me that the Dotterel pass the 

 islands at the mouth of Baltic about the first of June, and dis- 

 perse over Scandinavia. Professor Wilson mentions their 



* Yarrell's British Birds, TO!, ii., p. 400. 



