212 CHAKADKIIDyE 



on a mud-flat in Donegal Bay (H. R. Nichols, ' Irish 

 Naturalist,' 1906, p. 45). 



Food. The food consists of various insects, especially 

 beetles and caterpillars ; worms, slugs, and snails, are also 

 eaten. 



Voice. The note is low and rather plaintive. 



Nest. In the nesting-season the Dotterel resorts to 

 mountains often of considerable altitude, breeding on the 

 slopes not far from the summits. 



The eggs, three in number, deposited in a depression 

 in moss or grass-covered soil, are cold buff, varying in 

 shade to light olive, and blotched with brownish-black. 

 Incubation begins about the second week in June. 



In the British Isles the Dotterel breeds in small 

 numbers on the hills of Cumberland (Lake district), while 

 northward it may be found nesting on the Grampians (at 

 an elevation of 3,000 feet), and on other mountain-ranges 

 in Northern Scotland. 



Geographical distribution. Abroad this bird breeds in 

 Scandinavia, North Russia, and eastward right across 

 Siberia ; also on some of the islands within the Arctic 

 Circle. Over Temperate and Southern Europe it is mainly 

 a passing spring and autumn migrant. Its winter range 

 extends to North Africa and Western Asia. 



DESCRIPTIVE CHARACTERS. 



PLUMAGE. Adult male nuptial. Top of head, 1 dark 

 brownish-black ; a curved white stripe extends over the eye 

 backwards to the hind-neck, joining there with the similar 

 stripe of the other side ; front of head, cheeks, chin, and 

 throat, nearly white, with a little brown speckling in front 

 of the eye; feathers of the back and wings, brownish, with 

 lighter margins ; inner secondaries, margined with red ; 

 primaries, brown ; tail, brown, edged with white, except 

 the central pair of feathers ; front of neck and upper breast, 

 greyish-brown, the lower feathers being edged with black 

 and limited by a white crescent ; lower breast, bright 

 reddish-brown ; flanks, similar in colour ; abdomen, black ; 

 under tail-coverts, white ; axillaries, greyish. 



1 In the shape of its head the Dotterel closely resembles the true 

 Plovers. Its forehead is round and prominent, its beak short and 

 straight and its eyes large and bright. 



