4 o8 NORTHERN EUROPE 



whence they do not return before the following April, when they come back by 

 a route which never coincides with that taken on the southward journey. The 

 dotterel is an active but stupid bird, with a hurried flight ; it derives its name 

 either from its call of " dot, dote," or from the ease with which it allows itself to 

 be caught, or perhaps from both by way of a pun. Dotterel are easier of approach 

 than any other members of the plover tribe, and when one is shot, the others settle 

 again at a little distance. In length it is about 9 inches ; in colour greyish brown 

 above, with a dark crown and a broad white loop extending from the e} T es round 

 the nape, and a white band across the breast, which is elsewhere brown, the region 

 of tin- legs being black. 



Better known than the dotterel is the golden plover (Chantdriu-? phi v talis), 

 which breeds on English heaths ami moorlands, as well as throughout the north of 

 central Europe, and still farther north even on the Arctic tundra. It has been 

 found in such desolate localities as Jan Mayen, Novaia Zeinlia, ami Greenland. 

 On migration it appears in flocks among the cornfields in search of insects. 

 Southwards it travels as far as Cape Colony, and in hard winters resorts in 

 great numbers to the shores of tin- Mediterranean. The nest is a mere apology, 

 placed in some depression on the ground or in a. tuft of grass or heather, and 

 scantily lined with dry grass and moss. The eggs, four in number, are light brown 

 in colour, blotched with purples and greys, and are laid from April to June, the 

 male at times taking the place of the female in their incubation. The food consists 

 mainly of insects, snails, and worms. The golden plover has a clear melodious 

 whistle which may be heard at a considerable distance, and even as the bird passes 

 high overhead beyond the range of sight. The sexes are alike in plumage, being 

 light brown above and black below, but in the female the black does not rise quite 

 so high on the breast. Nearly all round, the black is marked off from the brown 

 by a white edging, and the axillaries are also white. 



Among the larger ground-birds of central Europe, the bustard straggles into 

 southern Sweden, but the crane goes no farther north than the region of tree-growth. 

 The water-rail appears in northern Scandinavia, and the corncrake in Lapland, while 

 the northerly range of the spotted crake is confined to central Sweden, and that of the 

 little crake to 55° X. latitude. The coot and moorhen do not range farther north 

 than central Sweden ; the black stork is unknown even thus far, and the white 

 stork is found no higher than 57° X. latitude. Neither can the bitterns be called 

 northern birds, although the heron is found at least as far north as 64° N. latitude. 

 Of the water-birds, the grey lag-goose flourishes in Norway and 

 Sweden, although, like its cousin the bean-goose, it is not really 

 indigenous to the north. In the last-named species (Anser segetv/m), which is 

 34 inches long and has no black on the breast, the feathers of the brownish back 

 are edged with grey, those of the breast being silver grey, those of the sides brown 

 mottled with white, while the feet are orange-yellow, and the beak orange with a 

 black nail. This goose breeds in Scandinavia north of latitude 64°, in Lapland, and 

 eastwards as far as the Yenesei, and it has even been found nesting so far north 

 as Novaia Zemlia. 



The descendants of three kinds of geese are kept as domesticated birds. The 

 common goose is descended from the grey lag-goose, the Toulouse breed, which is 



