4212 The Zoologist — November, 1874. 



breadth, but I have had one specimen measuring two inches and four lines 

 by one inch and nine lines. The eggs are far superior in flavour to those 

 of the peewit."— P. ICl. 



The ringed plover, or ringed dotterel, comes out in rather a new 

 character from Dr. Saxby's pen — that of a domestic pet. I entirely 

 agree with him in believing it must be a little perplexity to a 

 stranger on taking possession of his lodgings to hear the wild note 

 of this pretty little bird coming from under the sofa or from behind 

 the window-curtains, but it seems such an occurrence may take 

 place in Shetland. 



Desirous of solving the problem as to the existence of the 

 smaller race of dotterels observed by Stevenson, Harting, and 

 others, Dr. Saxby paid particular attention to this point, and 

 certainly met with "a few individuals of less than ordinary size," 

 but he is evidently disinclined to consider this occasional dis- 

 crepancy any more than accidental, and he also fails to perceive 

 the other characters which have been pointed out as distinctive, 

 concluding that fineness and length in the claws is scarcely a safe 

 indication of specific difference, "since the claws of young waders 

 have thai peculiarity before they become abraded by the sand and 

 gravel." Mr. Gray (' Birds of the West of Scotland,' p. QUO) seems 

 to unite with those ornithologists who think otherwise, for he says, 

 " The variation in the size of this species has been a source of much 

 perplexity to me. In the spring lime I have shot many specimens 

 so much smaller than the ringed ])lover which breeds with us that 

 I have long thought, seeing that they only appear in spring, that 

 they must belong to a southern race." Dr. Saxby having failed to 

 discover such a race in Shetland, where he has had such excellent 

 and long-continued, may I not say such unexampled, opportunities 

 of observation, leads me rather to a conclusion opposite to that 

 which he evidently entertains. The fact that this smaller race does 

 not reach Shetland is I think established by his careful and con- 

 tinuous observations; but the very fact that it does not seems 

 rather to indicate a difference which may possibly be specific. 

 This diversity of opinion is of the greatest possible value in 

 science, because it prompts and provokes unceasing observation, 

 the eventual result of which must be the establishment of truth. 



Equally extensive have been our author's opportunities of 

 observing the nesting habits of the dotterel, and it is evident, from 

 the interesting passage 1 have cited below, that in this, as in every 



