78 BRITISH BIRDS, THEIR EGGS AND XESTS. 



wings which, after a time, are to be so strong and swift. Verj 

 jealous too are the parents as long; as their young are only 

 runners, and very plaintive is their incessant piping if you or 

 your dog approach too near their place of concealment. Pig. 2, 

 plate VII. 



164. DOTTEREL (Charadrius morinellus). 

 Dottrel or Dotterel Plover, Foolish Dottrel. This is a sum- 

 mer visitor to our country, and in many localities where it 

 used to be abundant, or at least common, it is now rare or 

 almost unknown. This is the case on parts at least of the York- 

 shire Wolds, as well as in the Lake district. They are sought 

 after by the Ply-fisher and by the Ornithologist and by the 

 Epicure, and from their exceedingly simple and unsuspicious 

 habits they fall easy victims before the fowling-piece of modern 

 days. The female makes no nest, but lays her customary three 

 eggs in a slight cavity on the ground near high mountain tops, 

 where some tall-growing moss or other mountain herbage facili- 

 tates concealment. The eggs are of an olivaceous hue, spotted 

 plentifully with very dark brown or brownish-black. 



165. RINGED PLOYER (Charadrius Maticula). 



Ringed or Ring Dottrel. A very pretty shore-bird, of inter- 

 esting habits, and not infrequent, especially in winter, on many 

 parts of the British coast. In quiet parts, where large expanses 

 of sand or shingle, or even mud, are left by the receding tide, 

 it may be seen in numbers. It seems to make no nest : the eggs 

 are laid on the sand, and often at a very considerable distance 

 from the sea ; as, for instance, on the warrens in Norfolk and 

 Suffolk. They are four in number, very large in proportion to 

 the size of the bird, possessing the peculiar pointed shape of 

 the eggs of the entire class of birds we are now among, and of 

 a warm cream-colour, spotted and streaked with black. The 

 parent birds try hard to lead the casual intruder away from the 

 vicinity of their young. Fig. 3, plate VII. 



166. KENTISH PLOVER (Charadrius Cantianus). 



Seldom obtained very far from the southern coasts of England, 

 and not appearing to be a very plentiful bird even there. In 

 habits, it strongly resembles the Ring Plover just named. The 

 female makes no nest, but lays her four eggs in a slight hollow 

 on sand or shingle, which strongly resemble some of the lighter- 

 coloured examples of the eggs of the last-named species. Fig. 4, 

 VII. 



167, LITTLE RINGED PLOYER (Charadrius minor). 



A very rare P>ritish Bird. 



