GRALLATORES. 145 



almost perfect summer dress, and others with only 

 a few scattered black feathers on the breast. Mr. 

 W. Jeffery, of Eatham, Sussex, drew my attention 

 to the fact that the Grey Plover (Vanellus melano- 

 gaster) is occasionally found with yellow spots on 

 the back and wings, like a Golden Plover, and 

 showed me a specimen in which this peculiarity was 

 very marked. Owing, perhaps, to this circumstance, 

 and to the fact that in winter the golden spots of 

 C. pluvialis become very faint, the two species are 

 not unfrequently confounded. But if any one will 

 once take the trouble to compare the two birds to- 

 gether, he will never again mistake them. The 

 Golden Plover is the smaller bird, has shorter and 

 more slender legs and bill, and has no hind-toe like 

 the Grey Plover ; while the long feathers under the 

 wings in the Golden Plover are white, and in the 

 Grey Plover black. 



If not a positive benefactor, the Golden Plover 

 may at all events be considered a harmless visitor. 

 Its food appears to be chiefly small beetles and 

 earth-worms, mixed with a good deal of gravel or 

 grit. 



DOTTEREL, Charadrius morinellus. The Hon. and 

 Eev. W. Herbert, to whom I have referred under the 

 head of Great Plover, observes that the Dotterel is 

 peculiar to dry chalk districts, and feeds chiefly on 

 small green beetles, which are probably peculiar to 

 such localities. The absence of chalk, therefore, 



o 



