36 LITTLE KINGED DOTTEEEL. 



They feed on small worms, flies, beetles, and small aquatic 

 and other insects in their various stages, and this chiefly in 

 the mornings and evenings, and part of the night, wading 

 in search of them in the shallows. They roost during the day, 

 either standing by the water side or crouching down. 



The note is a plaintive whistle, and they frequently utter 

 it in the spring as they keep flying about. Meyer expresses 

 it by 'dut,' 'dit,' or 'dea.' 



The sand is its nest. 



The eggs are of a pale yellowish stone-colour, with numerous 

 small spots of bluish ash, reddish brown, and dark brown. 

 The young are hatched in sixteen or seventeen days, and at 

 once begin to run about, hiding themselves instinctively with 

 much cleverness if endangered. 



Male; length, not quite seven inches; bill, slender and black; 

 iris, brown; the eyelids, dark yellowish; forehead, white, over 

 it a black patch as far as the eye; crown, back of the head, and 

 neck on the back, greyish brown; nape, white; chin and throat, 

 white, extending from the latter round the nape; breast, white, 

 with a patch of black on its upper part; back, ash-colour or 

 greyish brown. 



The wings have the first quill feather the ftmgest, the second 

 nearly as long; greater and lesser wing coverts, greyish brown ; 

 primaries and secondaries, dusky brown, edged with white, and 

 the first quill feather with a broad white shaft; tertiaries, 

 greyish brown. Tail, greyish brown at the base, darker towards 

 the end; the five outer feathers white on the ends, each 

 gradually more so; the outer feather on each side white, with 

 a large blackish spot on the inner web; upper tail coverts, 

 greyish brown ; under tail coverts, white. Legs and toes, slender, 

 pale yellowish red; claws, black. 



The female has the bands of white and black on the forehead 

 narrower and less distinctly defined than in the male. The 

 feathers of the back and wing coverts have buff-coloured margins; 

 legs, pale reddish yellow; the joints grey. 



The young are without the decided black markings; the 

 white also is less pure. 



