DOTTEREL. 255 



thought that this imitation did not conduce to the taking of 

 them, for they seemed not to mind or regard it." To this 

 superstition Drayton alludes (Polyolbion, 25th Song)), where 

 he says : 



"The Dotterell, which we thinke a very daintie dish, 

 Whose taking makes such sport, as man no more can wish. 

 For as you creepe, or cowere, or lye, or stoupe, or goe, 

 So marking you (with care), the Apish bird doth doe ; 

 And acting everything, doth never marke the net, 

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



And he expresses the same idea in some ' Panegyricke 

 Verses,' prefixed to ' Coryat's Crudities' (1611). 



It also appears that the bird was taken with Hawks. Mr. 

 Harting has contributed to Stevenson's ' Birds of Norfolk ' 

 (ii. p. 82) some interesting extracts from a curious MS. 

 diary kept by Hans Jacob Wurmser v. Vendenheym, who 

 accompanied the Duke of Wurtemberg to England in 1610, 

 and found King James I. at Thetford, on the 7th May, hare- 

 hunting and hawking. The next day, " apres que son 

 Excellence] eut disne avecq sa Ma te , le Due de Lenox qui 

 1'estoit venu visitor devant disne le menu a la chasse ou Ton 

 courrut le lievre, fit voller un espervier et prirent des Doter- 

 elles, oiseau qui se laisse prendre par une estrange maniere 

 ainsy que nous avons veu. Et qui se peult mieulx dire 

 qu'escripre." With reference to the predilection of James I. 

 for this mild form of sport, an amusing anecdote will be 

 found in Hone's ' Every-Day Book,' 1826, p. 645, under date 

 of May 10th, which used to be known in the borders of 

 Hertford and Cambridgeshires as * Dotterel- day.' As regards 

 the action of stretching out a wing alternately, it is not 

 peculiar to Dotterel, or even to members of the Plover tribe ; 

 many birds do it after being in repose for some time, and in 

 Hawks it is called " mantling " by falconers. 



The adult bird, in its summer plumage, has the beak 

 black ; the irides dark brown ; the top of the head and 

 nape of the neck, blackish-brown, bounded on the side and 

 behind by a band of pure white ; the ear-coverts, the neck, 

 and back, ash colour ; the scapulars, wing-coverts, and 



