98 A CATALOGUE OP THE BIRDS 



100. MORINELLUS, Bonaparte. 



7. DoTTEEEL. M. SiBEEicus, {Lcpechin.) 



Cha/rad/rius morinellus, Bewick, Hist. Brit. Birds, Ed. 1847, II., 

 14. 



Yarrell, Hist. Brit. Birds, Ed. 2, II., 

 455. 



The Dotterel visits tMs district every year during its spring 

 and autumn migrations, probably to and from the mountains of 

 Cumberland and "Westmoreland. I have its eggs from Cross 

 Pell, Saddleback, Helvellyn, and Skiddaw. 



It is met with on the Ifewcastle Town Moor in spring and 

 autumn, and apparently in undiminished numbers ; for this year, 

 1873, a flock of twenty were observed on the wing, two of which 

 were killed by coming in contact with the telegraphic wires. It 

 also occasionally visits the neighbourhood of Sunderland ; and I 

 saw two individuals on the moor at ^Newbiggin-by-the-Sea, in 

 1871. Dotterels never stay more than a few days with us. The 

 earliest arrive in the first week of May, and on their return in 

 autumn make their appearance in September. 



I shot a specimen on the Newcastle Town Moor m the first 

 plumage ; and I have another example in the same dress, killed 

 on Cross Eell, on the 31st of August. In the first plumage the 

 feathers of the head, neck, back, scapulars, and wing coverts are 

 dusky brown, widely edged with russet or yellowish white ; the 

 quills are dusky with the shaft of the external one white, the 

 tertiaries and tail-feathers a dusky brown, widely edged with 

 russet ; the tail coverts pale brown, strongly edged with russet ; 

 supercilium pale buff ; cheek and auriculars pale drab, streaked 

 with darker colour. The under parts are of a pale dun or drab 

 colour, lighter on the belly and vent ; the neck and gorget are of 

 the same colour, with the feathers of the latter pale brown in 

 the centre, and immediately below these the white transverse 

 band of the adult is obscurely indicated by one of a pale dun 

 colour ; a little lower on each side of the breast is a slight shade 

 of brown, where, in the adult bird in summer, there is black. 



