CHABADEID^E. 327 



legs, toes and claws are nearly black. The young 

 birds of the year are brown, with yellow spots on the 

 upper parts, both colours being strongly mixed with 

 greyish ash. 



The egg is pear-shaped, a sort of olive-brown, 

 spotted with dark brown; but the eggs are subject 

 to considerable variety, as will appear by the follow- 

 ing note of Mr. Saxby's in the * Zoologist' for 1863, 

 p. 8725 : " The general rule appears to be that 

 those eggs which are laid early in the season have a 

 dingy hue, the ground colour being strongly tinged 

 with dull olive- green, and that a little later this 

 commences gradually to become less frequent, 

 giving place to creamy white, sometimes tinged with 

 warm yellowish brown; the latter colour is more 

 frequent in June and July, when the breeding season 

 is drawing to its close. At this time the spots and 

 blotches are very abundant, and more of a reddish 

 brown." 



DOTTEREL, Charadrius morinellus. This is a 

 tolerably regular summer visitor to some of the more 

 northern counties, but is not a very well-known 

 species in this county ; it is more common, however, 

 both in Wiltshire and Dorsetshire. It has probably 

 been known to breed in this county, as Yarrell says, 

 " The Dotterel is said to breed on the Mendip Hills 

 in Somersetshire ; " and Montagu says, " A person of 

 credit who frequents the Mendip Hills declares that 

 they breed there, and that he has taken their eggs. 



2 F 2 



