ON THE OCCURRENCE OF THE DOTTEREL IIT DORSET. 31 



annual visit to Sweden. Mr. Hewitson saw some on the 

 ploughed fields of Norway. Linnaeus says they are frequent 

 in Dalecarlia and the Lapland Alps, and they are known to go 

 as high as the sixty-seventh degree of north latitude. They are 

 said to breed also in Russia, Siberia, and Northern Asia. The 

 best accounts of the habits of this species at its breeding ground, 

 h as been supplied by T. C. Hey sham, Esq., of Carlisle, from 

 which the following is an extracts "I will] now narrate, says 

 this gentleman, as succinctly as possible what has fallen under 

 my own observation relative to the habits and economy of this 

 bird. In the neighbourhood of Carlisle, Dotterels seldom make 

 their appearance before the middle of May, about which time 

 they are occasionally seen in different localities, in flocks which 

 vary in number from five to fifteen, and almost invariably resort 

 to heaths, barren pastures, fallow grounds, &c., in open and 

 exposed situations, where they continue if unmolested, from ten 

 days to a fortnight , and then return to the mountains in the 

 vicinity of the lakes to breed. The most favourite breeding 

 haunts of these birds are always near to or on the summits of the 

 of the highest mountains particularly those that are densely 

 covered with the woolly fringe-moss, Irichostomum lanuginosum, 

 Hedw., which indeed grows more or less profusely, on nearly all 

 the most elevated parts of the alpine districts. In the lonely 

 places they constantly reside the whole of the breeding-season, 

 a considerable part of the time enveloped in clouds, and almost 

 daily drenched with rain or wetting mists, so extremely pre- 

 valent in these dreary regions, and there can be little doubt that 

 it is owing to this peculiar feature in their economy that they 

 have remained so long in obscurity during the period of incuba- 

 tion. The Dotterel is by no means a solitary bird at this time, 

 as a few pairs usually associate together, and live to all appear- 

 ance in the greatest harmony. These birds do not make any 

 nests, but deposit their eggs, which seldom exceed three in 

 number, in a small cavity on dry ground covered with vegetation* 

 and generally near a moderate size stone, or fragment of rock. 

 In early seasons old females will occasionally be^in to lay their 



