104 DOTTREL PLOVER. Class IL 



barley fallows : from thence they remove north- 

 ward to a place called Leyton Haws, and stay 

 there about a fortnight ; but where they breed, 

 or where they reside during winter, we have not 

 been able to discover. They are reckoned very 

 foolish birds, so that a dull fellow is prover- 

 bially called a Dottrel. They were also be- 

 lieved to mimick the action of the fowler; to 

 stretch out a wing when he stretched out an arm, 

 &c. continuing their imitation, regardless of the 

 net that was spreading for them. 



To this method of taking them, Michael 

 Drayton alludes in his panegyrical verses on 

 Cory ate s Crudities : 



Most worthy man with thee it is even thus. 

 As men take Dottrels, so hast thou ta'en us j 

 Which as a man his arme or leg doth set. 

 So this fond bird will likewise counterfeit. 



At present, sportsmen watch the arrival of 

 the Dottrels, and shoot them; the other me- 

 thod having been long disused. 



