38 KENTISH DOTTEEEL. 



hatched, which they are in seventeen days, when they at once 

 begin to run about, the parents become very uneasy, and 

 flutter about an intruder with notes of alarm. 



They associate with the Ringed Dotterels, but the flocks 

 keep distinct in flight. 



They can run very fast, and do so if approached. They 

 fly also very quickly. 'Before taking flight it opens its wings 

 wide above its back, and generally skims the surface of the 

 water when it does not intend to leave the neighbourhood; 

 on alighting it skims to a short distance, and on touching 

 the ground with its feet it opens its wings again wide, then 

 runs a short space, and looks round before it begins its vocation 

 of feeding.' 



Small marine insects, worms, and Crustacea, form the staple 

 of their food. 



Meyer gives the words 'tirr, tin*,' 'pitt, pitt,' and 'pwee, 

 pwee,' as resemblances of its note. 



The nest is placed on the shingle, or rather is actual shingle 

 itself, or fine sand, any slight depression serving as a receptacle 

 for the eggs; a few blades of grass or withered weeds may 

 perchance afford a scanty lining. The eggs are four in number, 

 Mr. Gould, it is said erroneously, says five; they are of a 

 yellowish colour, finely and much marked all over, but chiefly 

 at and about the centre and base, with dark blackish brown. 

 The bird rarely sits on the eggs during the day. 



Male; weight, rather over one ounce and a half; length, 

 not quite seven inches; bill, black; from its base, to and beyond 

 the eye, is a black streak; iris, brown; the eyelids white. 

 Forehead, white, extending broadly over the eye and a little 

 beyond it, over the white is a patch of black; head on the 

 sides, white; crown and back of the head, rich reddish or 

 yellowish brown, with a tinge of grey, the former colour 

 prevailing at the edges; neck on the sides, and nape, white; 

 chin and throat, white. Breast, white, excepting a patch of 

 black on each side of its upper part; back, light greyish brown. 

 The wings have the first feather the longest; the shafts 

 the darkest coloured; greater wing coverts, light greyish 

 brown tipped with white; lesser wing coverts, light greyish 

 brown; primaries, brownish black; the shafts white, and the 

 last with light edges; secondaries, brownish black, tipped with 

 white, and white at the base; tertiaries, light greyish brown; 

 greater and lesser under wing coverts, white. The tail, greyish 

 brown, has the two middle feathers the longest, and dusky 



