THE DOTTREL. 269 



green plover, they may be unobserved, as in dry 

 weather, (and observers of nature are not upon the 

 open downs and heaths in rain so much as they should 

 be), their time of feeding is in the morning and evening 

 When we had the best opportunities of observing 

 them, none came before April, or after May ; they 

 alighted on the marshy heaths, and their flight was 

 toward the north, not in single birds or pairs, but in 

 flocks. They began their march southward in August, 

 at which time the flocks were more numerous than in 

 the spring: part of them, and those that, generally 

 speaking, arrived the last, had the crown of a reddish 

 brown instead of black, and were smaller, which leaves 

 little doubt that they were young birds ; as that is the 

 character of plovers, which the dottrels very much re- 

 semble. They are not quite so large as the plover, 

 perhaps an inch and a half shorter, and three inches 

 narrower in the wings, and about three-fourths of the 

 weight. 



One cause of the alleged ignorance that naturalists 

 are in, with regard to the nests and young of this 

 plover, may arise from confounding them with those of 

 the other species. The nests of these are found only 

 by accident, and we were never able to meet with one 

 when in search of it. The whistle of the male bird is 

 given at a considerable distance from the nest; that 

 attracts the attention for a moment, and to one who is 

 not familiar with the manners of the bird, it finds occu- 

 pation for a considerable time. It zigzags and flutters, 

 now here, now there ; at one time it limps as if lame 

 of a leg ; and at another, it droops a wing, as if that 

 were broken. That is all trick and pretence; but still 

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