332 BIRDS OF SOMERSETSHIRE. 



the Ring Dotterel and Purres certainly appear to 

 say, " The mud for us." 



In the summer the Ring Dotterel does not appear 

 to be quite so numerous as in the winter, so there is 

 probably a partial migration north ward in the 

 summer, or at all events a dispersing in search of 

 favourable nesting-places. 



The nest, is a mere hole scraped in the 

 ground amongst small pebbles, generally near the 

 sea, but not always, as the nest has been found a 

 considerable way inland ; a perfect nest, it is said, 

 " consists of a saucer-shaped hollow scraped in the 

 ground and lined with small stones, which are some- 

 times so thickly piled around the sides that the eggs 

 are sometimes found standing almost perpendicu- 

 larly upon their small ends."* 



The food of the Ring Dotterel consists of worms, 

 shore-worms, grubs, small beetles, insects and their 

 larvse, shrimps and sand-hoppers. Mr. Harting, 

 writing in the * Zoologist ' for 1863 of the birds of 

 the Kingsbury Reservoir, says of this species, " The 

 stomachs of all I have examined contained either the 

 remains of small beetles and worms or a mass of 

 semi-digested vegetable matter, sometimes both, and 

 invariably small particles of sand or gravel." 



The adult Ring Dotterel is a very pretty bird, and 

 is easily distinguished from the other birds of the 



* See ' Zoologist' for 1864, p. 9127. 



