350 niSTORY OF 



pools : they were thence termed, by Willoughby, Mudsuckers. 

 But later discoveries have showni that, in these places, they 

 hunt for the caterpillars and worms of insects. From hence, 

 therefore, we may generally assert, that all birds of this class 



bill is black ; the cheeks and throat are wliite ; the bark and wings are of a 

 light brown, inclining to olive ; the breast is of a dull orange : the belly, 

 thighs, and vent are of a reddish \vhite ; the tail is of an olive broAvn, and 

 tipped with white ; the legs are of a dark olive colour. The dotterel is 

 common in various parts of Great Britain, though in some places it is 

 scarcely known. They are supposed to breed in the mountains of Cumber- 

 land and Westmoreland, where they are sometimes seen in the month of 

 May, during the breeding season ; they likewise breed on several of the 

 Highland hills. They are very common in Cambridgeshire, Lincolnsliire, 

 and Derbyshire, appearing in small flocks on the heaths and moors of these 

 counties during the months of May and June ; and are then very fat, and 

 much esteemed for the table. This bird is remarkable for its stupidity. 



The Redshank. — This bird weighs about five ounces and a half; its length 

 IS twelve inches, and the breadth twenty-one. The bill, from the tip to the 

 corners of the month, is more than an inch and three quarters long, black at 

 the point, and red towards the base : the feathers on the crown of the head 

 are dark brown, edged with pale ruft'ous ; a light or whitish line passes 

 over, and encircles each eye, from the corners of which a dark brown spot 

 is extended to the beak : irides hazel : the hinder part of the neck is ob- 

 scurely spotted with dark brown, or a rusty ash coloured ground; tlie 

 throat and fore-part are more distinctly marked in streaks of the same col- 

 our': on the breast and belly, wluch are white tinged with ash, the spots 

 are thinly distributed, and are shaped something like the heads of arrows 

 or darts. 



The Spotted Redshank. — The length of this bird, from the tip of the bill to 

 the end of the tail, is twelve inches, and to the end of the toes fourteen 

 inches and a half; its breadth twenty-one Inches and a quarter; and its 

 weight above five ounces avoirdupois. The bill is slender, measures two 

 inches and a half from the corners of the mouth to the tip, and is, for half 

 its length nearest the base, red ; the other part black : irides hazel ; the 

 head, neck, breast, and belly, are spotted in streaks, mottled and barred 

 Ivith dingy ash brown and dull white, darker on the crown and hinder part 

 of the neck ; the throat is white ; and lines of the same colour pass from 

 the upper sides of the beak over each eye, from the corners of which two 

 brown ones are extended to the nosh-ils. The gromid colour of the should, 

 ers, scapulars, lesser coverts, and tail, is a glossy olive brown ; the feathers 

 on all these parts are indented on the edges, more or less, with triangular, 

 shaped white spots. The back is white : the rump barred with waved lines 

 of ash-coloured brown, and dingy white : the vent feathers are marked 

 nearly in the same manner, but with a greater portion of white : the tail 

 and coverts are also barred with narrow waved lines of a dull ash-colour, 

 and, in some specimens, are nearly black and white. Five of the primary 

 quills are dark brown, tinged with olive ; the shaft of the first quill is white ; 

 the next six are, in the male, rather deeply tipped with white, and slightly 

 spotted and barred with brown : the secondaries, as far as they are uncover- 



