458 CHARADRIID^E. 



vegetation, and generally near a moderate sized stone, or 

 fragment of rock. In early seasons old females will occa- 

 sionally begin to lay their eggs about the 26th of May ; 

 but the greater part seldom commence before the first or 

 second week in June. It would appear, however, from the 

 following facts, that they vary exceedingly in this respect. 

 On the 19th of July 1833, a perfect egg was taken out of 

 a female, which had been recently killed on Robinson ; and 

 on the 26th of May 1834, I received four Dottrels from 

 Keswick, which had been shot on Great Gavel the day 

 before. In the ovary of one of them I found an egg al- 

 most quite ready for exclusion, being a difference of nearly 

 eight weeks. So great a discrepancy in all probability is 

 of very rare occurrence ; yet it will subsequently appear 

 that eggs recently laid, and a young bird, a few days old, 

 were found on the same day, at no great distance from 

 each other. The males assist the females in the incubation 

 of their eggs. How long incubation continues I have not 

 yet been able to ascertain ; but I am inclined to think that 

 it rarely lasts much longer than eighteen or twenty days. 

 A week or two previous to their departure, they congregate 

 in flocks, and continue together until they finally leave this 

 country, which takes place sometimes during the latter 

 part of August, at others not before the beginning of Sep- 

 tember. A few birds no doubt are occasionally seen after 

 this period ; but they are either late broods, or birds that 

 are returning from more northern latitudes. This autumn 

 I visited several breeding-stations on the 25th of August, 

 and again on the 2nd of September, but in neither instance 

 could I observe a single individual. 



" Anxious as I have been for several years past to pro- 

 cure the eggs of the Dottrel for the purpose of adding 

 undoubted specimens of so rare an egg to my cabinet, as 



