CHAPTER LVIII. 



METHOD OF CAPTURING DOTTERELS. 



" The dotterel, which we think a very dainty dish, 

 Whose taking makes such sport as man no more can wish j 

 For as you creep, or cowr, or lie, or stoop, or go, 

 So marking you (with care) the apish bird doth go ; 

 And acting everything, doth never mark the net 

 Till he be in the snare which men for him have set." 



DRAYTON, Poly-olbion, Song xxv. 



IN former days the dotterel (Charadrius morinellus) is said to have 

 afforded the fowler abundant diversion j and, according to numerous 

 authorities, was not difficult to capture. Through centuries past it 

 has been highly esteemed as one of the rarest delicacies of the table, 

 consequently eagerly sought by the fowler. And it appears by the 

 " Northumberland Household Book" (temp. Hen. VIII.) that whilst 

 stints were purchased at twopence per dozen, dotterels were bought 

 at one penny each a high price for so small a bird in those days. 

 And when we consider that teal and widgeon were bought at the 

 same price (one penny each), the dotterel must have been held in 

 very high estimation as a table delicacy. 



The dotterel is termed by Aristophanes a mirth-making bird ; and, 

 according to that authority, was easily caught by the ancient fowler : 

 or, as has been quaintly remarked, it catcheth itself by its over-active 

 imitation. 



" The dotterell that folyshe pek."* 



The method of taking dotterels by lamp or candle-light on dark 

 nights is as follows : The fowler proceeds with a lanthorn to their 

 most frequented haunts in the fens, when, by disturbing them, they 



* In Skelton's " Lament for Phyllyp Sparowe " the dotterel is thus introduced 

 as one of the mourners. 



