528 THE KENTISH PLOVER. 



connected with his favorite science, and my ever-i3leasing pursuits ! How delightful to have 

 talked, among other things, of the probable use of the double claws which I have found 

 attached to the toes of the species which goes by his name, and which are also seen in other 

 groups of shore and sea birds ! Perhaps he might have informed me why the claws of some birds 

 are pectinated on one toe and not on the rest, and why that one itself is so cut. But, alas ! 

 Wilson was vdW\ me only a few times, and then nothing worthy of his attention was procui'ed." 



It resembles the Ring Plover, except in the length and color of the bill, its size, and in 

 wanting the yellow eyelids. The sexes differ somewhat, but the male and female of Ring- 

 Plovers are alike. At Cape May, the Wilson Plovers were quite abundant at this time, going 

 in flocks of considerable numbers, yet it was regarded as a rare bird. 



The voice is an agreeable piping note. Its length is seven inches and three quarters, and 

 extent of wing fifteen and a half inches. 



-'tj 



The Dotterel, which is represented in the illustration on page 521, has long been held 

 as the type of stupidity, and to call a man a Dotterel is considered as great an insult as to 

 term him a goose or a donkey. 



Certainly, the Dotterel is not a very wise bird in some things, having but little of the 

 general wary habits of the Plovers, and allowing itself to be approached without displaying 

 much uneasiness. It was once thought to be so very inquisitive and so foolish as to imitate 

 all the actions of the fowler, holding out a wing if he held out an arm, lying flat if he did the 

 same, and so permitting the net to be thrown over it before it Avas aware of any danger. It is 

 not now so jilentiful as it used to be, its numbers having been much thinned by guns and nets. 

 Its flesh is thought very good, and the bird finds a ready sale in the poulterer's shop. The spe- 

 cific title Morinellus, signifies a little fool. The cry of the Dotterel is a kind of piping whistle. 



The breeding-places are selected on high grounds, and the eggs, mostly three in number, 

 are placed on a few grass stems laid carelessly in a depression in the soil, sheltered in 

 most cases by a large stone or fragment of rock. The color of the eggs is like that of the 

 Golden Plover. 



The top of the head and back of the neck are dark brown ; above the eye a rather broad 

 white streak runs towards the nape of the neck, and the chin and sides of the face are 

 white, speckled with darker tints. The back is ashen-brown, and the scapularies and wing- 

 coverts are edged with buff. The primaries are ashen-gi'ay mixed with white. Tlie throat is 

 ashen-gray, and the breast is rich dark fawn, crossed by a bold white streak, extending com- 

 pletely across the bi'east and terminating at the shoulders. The abdomen is black, and the 

 under tail-coverts buffy white. In the summer the breast is buffy white. The total length of 

 this bird is not quite ten inches. 



The pretty little Kentish Plover may be seen on some of our shores, running along the 

 edge of the waves with surprising celerity, pecking here and there as the waves retreat, and 

 uttering its happy whistling little notes as it mns. 



It bears a considerable resemblance to the ringed Plover {Oharadrius Maticula), but may 

 be distinguished from that bird liy the smaller size and the broken black collar on the neck, 

 which does not extend completely across the breast. The best mode of observing this bird, 

 or, indeed, the many species that haunt the shores, is to get on the cliffs, lie down among the 

 high gi'ass and herbage, and make use of a good double field-glass. With an ordinary 

 telescope the birds get out of the field too rapidly, and they are liable to be alai'med by the 

 movements of the tube. 



The eggs of this bird are laid in a hollow scraped in the sand or the fine shelly shingle. 

 There is no nest excepting the sand. The color of the eggs is yellowish- olive with streaks and 

 sj^ots of black. 



The top of the head is rich chestnut, the forehead white, with a black patch immediately 

 above the white, and a slight streak of white passes near the eye. The ear-coverts are black, 

 and the edge of the neck is grayish-white. The chin, sides of the throat, breast, and under 

 parts are white, excej)t a black collar which very nearly crosses the breast, but leaves a white 



