THE CRANE KIND. 



193 



other class. Such a covering there would 

 rather be prejudicial, as being continually 

 liable to get wet in the water. 



As these birds are usually employed rather 



year; it is also very abundant in the Highlands of Scot- 

 land, in the Western islands, and iu the Isle of Man. 



in running than in flying, and as their food 

 lies entirely upon the ground, and not on trees 

 or in the air, so they run with great swiftness 

 for their size, and the length of their 



It is again found in America, in Asia, and in the 

 islands of the South sea. Throughout the north of 

 Europe it is common, and in all parts of Germany, 

 Italy, and Spain. From the latter country we trace it 

 into Barbary, and other parts of Africa; and it is to be 

 found as far to the south-east of Asia, as India, China, 

 and the Archipelago of the Eastern ocean. These birds 

 lay from three to five eggs, of rather an olive-green 

 colour, with black spots. They live on worms, insects, 

 and larvae. There is very little difference in appear- 

 ance bstween the male and female. These plovers 

 strike the earth with their feet to cause the worms, &c., 

 to issue from their retreat. In the morning, like the 

 lapwings and the snipes, they visit the water side to 

 wash their bills and feet. They are rarely seen longer 

 than twenty-four hours in the same place, which doubt- 

 less proceeds from their numbers, which cause a rapid 

 exhaustion of their means of subsistence in any given 

 spot. They migrate from the districts which they in- 

 habit when the snow falls and the frost begins to be 

 intense, as their resources of provision are then cut off, 

 and they are deprived of the water, which their consti- 

 tution renders indispensable to them. It is very rare to 

 see a golden plover alone, and Belon tells us that the 

 smallest flocks in which they fly amount at least to fifty 

 each. When they are seeking their food, several of 

 them act as sentinels, and on the appearance of any 

 danger, set up a shrill cry, as a warning to the others, 

 and a signal for flight. These flocks disperse in the 

 evening, and each individual passes the night apart ; 

 but at the dawn of day, the first that awakes gives a 

 cry of appeal to the rest, which immediately re-assemble 

 on this call. This cry is imitated by the fowlers to 

 draw these birds into their nets. The flesh of these 

 plovers is in high estimation, in general, though the 

 peculiarity of its flavour does not equally please every 

 palate. It is best when the birds are rather fat than 

 otherwise. 



The Dotterel Plover. The length of this bird is about 

 nine inches. Its bill is black; the cheeks and throat 

 are white ; the back and wings are of a light brown, in- 

 clining to olive ; the breast is of a dull orange : the 

 belly, thighs and vent are of a reddish white ; the tail 

 is of an olive brown, and tipped with white ; the legs 

 are of a dark olive colour. The dotterel is common in 

 various parts of Great Britain. 



THE EUROPEAN OYSTER-CATCHER (Hcemalopus ostra- 

 legus). This is au European bird, and one species abounds 

 ou the western coasts of England. As its name imports, it 



VOL II. 



feeds on marine animals. It builds no nest, but deposits its 

 eggs ou the bare ground above high-water mark. Other 

 species of this bird are found ou the shores of Asia and 

 America. PL LXII. fig. 1. 



GREYPHALAROPE(P/(aZaropMFuZi'canas). A compara- 

 tively rare bird in the United States. It swims actively, dip- 

 ping the bill very frequently, as if feeding. PL LXII. fig. 2. 



The Redshank This bird weighs about five ounces 

 and a half; its length is twelve inches, and the breadth 

 twenty-one. The bill, from the tip to the corners of the 

 mouth, is more than an inch and three quarters long, 

 black at the point, and red towards the base: the fea- 

 thers on the crown of the head are dark brown, edged 

 with pale rufous ; a light or whitish line passes over, 

 and encircles each eye, from the corners of which a dark 

 brown spot is extended to the beak : irides hazel : the 

 hinder part of the neck is obscurely spotted with dark 

 brown, or a rusty ash-coloured ground ; the throat and 

 fore-part are more distinctly marked in streaks of the 

 same colour : on the breast and belly, which are white, 

 tinged with ash, the spots are thinly distributed, and 

 are shaped something like the heads of arrows or darts. 



The Spotted Redshank.- The length of this bird, from 

 the tip of the bill to the end of the tail, is twelve inches, 

 and to the end of the toes fourteen inches and a half; its 

 breadth twenty-one inches and a quarter; and its weight 

 above five ounces avoirdupois. The bill is slender, mea- 

 sured two inches and a half from the corners of the 

 mouth to the tip, and is, for half its length nearest the 

 base, red; the other part black: irides hazel; the head, 

 neck, breast, and belly, are spotted in streaks, mottled 

 and barred with dingy ash brown and dull white, darker 

 on the crown and hinder part of the neck ; the throat is 

 white ; and lines of the same colour pass from the upper 

 sides of the beak over each eye, from the corners of 

 which two hrown ones are extended to the nostrils. The 

 ground colour of the shoulders, scapulars, lesser coverts, 

 and tail, is a glossy olive brown ; the feathers on all 

 these parts are indented on the edges, more or less, with 

 triangular-shaped white spots. The back is white ; the 

 rump barred with wave lines of ash-coloured brown, 

 and dingy white ; the vent feathers are marked nearly 

 in the same manner, but with a greater portion of 

 white: the tail and coverts are also barred with narrow 

 waved lines of a dull ash-colour, and, in some speci- 

 mens, are nearly black and white. Five of the primary 

 quills are dark brown, tinged with olive ; the shaft of 

 the first quill is white ; the next six are, in the male, 

 rather deeply tipped with white, and slightly spotted 

 and barred with brown: the secondaries, as far as they 

 are unconverted when the wings are extended, are of 

 the same snowy whiteness as the back. The feathers 

 which cover the upper part of the thighs, and those near 

 them, are blushed with a reddish or vinous colour; the 

 legs are of a deep orange red, and measure, from the 

 end of the middle toe-nail to the upper bare part of the 

 thigh, five inches and a half. 



The Green Sandpiper. This bird measures about 

 ten inches in length, to the end of the toes nearly twelve, 

 and weighs about three ounces and a half. The bill is 

 black, and an inch and a half long: a pale streak ex- 

 tends from it over each eye ; between which, and the 

 corners of the mouth, there is a dusky patch. The 

 crown of the head, and the hinder part of the neck, are 

 of a dingy, brownish ash-colour; in some specimens 

 narrowly streaked with white. The throat is white ; 

 fore-part of the neck mottled or streaked with brown 

 spots on a white or pale ash-coloured ground. The 

 whole upper part of the plumage is of a glossy bronze, 



91 



