32 BRITISH BIRDS. 



easier to approach than any other species of Plover with which I am 

 acquainted. 



The Dotterel is quite as tame in its winter- quarters as it is on migration 

 or in its breeding-haunts. Canon Tristram speaks of enormous flocks of 

 these birds during winter in the hill-country of Southern Palestine, a 

 district of rolling prairies or steppes of grass-land, but at that season so 

 bare as to be called the wilderness. It abounded with myriads of white 

 snail-shells of various species, upon which the Dotterels were feeding in 

 company with an allied species, the Greater Sand-Plover (C. geoffroyi}. 

 They were so tame that th'ey almost ran amongst the horses' feet. 



This tameness does not arise from any deficiency in its powers of flight. 

 On the ground the Dotterel looks somewhat heavy, and appears a short- 

 necked, plump, little bird ; but on the wing, as it dashes along with its 

 long pointed pinions well bent, it might rather be regarded as the embodi- 

 ment of speed. 



The habits of the Dotterel at its breeding-grounds resemble very closely 

 those of its congeners. A most interesting account of the breeding of this 

 bird in the lake-district of Cumberland half a century ago was written by 

 Mr. Heysham, and has been copied in most works on British birds since 

 published. That naturalist described the arrival of the Dotterel in the 

 neighbourhood of Carlisle in small flocks in the middle of May. For 

 about a fortnight they frequented the fallows and the more barren pasture- 

 land, after which they retired to the summits of the mountains to breed, 

 where they remained in small colonies during the summer, seldom 

 wandering far to feed. They made no nest, but deposited their eggs in a 

 slight hollow on the mossy ground during the first half of June, though 

 occasionally clutches of fresh eggs were found as late as July. 

 Incubation lasted from eighteen to twenty days, in which the males took 

 their turn with the females. They sat very close, and when flushed 

 feigned lameness. Their principal food was beetles of various kinds, and 

 whilst feeding they were very tame ; but after the young were hatched 

 they exhibited great anxiety for their safety, flying round the intruder 

 with constant cries. About the middle of August they congregated into 

 large flocks, and left their breeding-grounds early in September. 



It is probable that the Dotterel still breeds on many of the mountains 

 in the lake-district ; and I have a series of eggs in my collection obtained 

 from this locality not many years ago by my friend Mr. Prank Nicholson, 

 who confirms, in most respects, the correctness of Heyshanr's observations. 



An equally interesting account of the breeding of the Dotterel on a 

 mountain-plateau on the borders of the counties of Perth and Inverness, 

 in the middle of June 1873, was communicated by Major Peilden for 

 insertion in Dresser's ( Birds of Europe,' and by Harvie- Brown, who 

 accompanied him, to the Natural History Society of Glasgow. Ptarmigan 



