306 THE BIRDS OF DEYOX. 



known it to he shot occasional!}- in the spring and autumn ou the Mendip, 

 and a single Dotterel shot on the Steep Holm early in May 1869, and 

 sent into Weston-super-Mare for preservation, was seen by us in the 

 flesh. About tlie middle of May in the same year, a small trip alighted 

 on the cricket-field just outside that town, and were so tame that they 

 continued there all day, taking no heed of the j^layers. A few days later, 

 we ourselves saw a single Dotterel on the sands near 8and Point, a few 

 miles to the east of Weston-super-ilare. Mr. F. D. Power states that on 

 1st May, this same year, he obtained five Dotterels which had been sliot 

 on the previous day on the Mendip close to Wells. Out of a small flock 

 of nine or ten seven were killed. On 121st August, 1870, he reports that 

 two more were obtained near the spot where this massacre took place, 



Mr. H. P. Hart (Zool. 1881, p. 04) has recorded that two Dotterels were 

 shot by one of the keepers of the lighthouses on the Lizard on 28th April, 

 1880, between two and three o'clock a.m., as they were hovering around 

 the lantern, attracted by the electric light. Mr. J. Gatcombe (Zool. 1885, 

 p 21) reports that flveDottereh, killed out of a trip of eight in the month 

 of ^May in Dorsetshire, were sent to Plymouth for preservation. It is a 

 little singular that in the last of the interesting notes communicated 

 by our friend to the 'Zoologist' (1887, p. 379) he should mention his 

 having purchased, on 12th December, a young Dotterel which had been 

 sent into Plymouth Market from Dartraoor,where it had been shot, adding 

 "this is the first local specimen I remember to have met with." 



Lapwing. Vanellus vtilf/aris, Bechst. 



[Lapwink, Horniwink, Xortham Horny wink (N. D.) ; Peewit, Green 

 Plover.] 



llesident in part, generally distributed and very abundant in winter. 

 This is one of the birds that are annually increasing in number. It 

 breeds on Dartmoor, at Huish Ley and Thurlestone Ley, Haldon, Wood- 

 bury, and other wild marshy and uncultivated moorland tracts; formerly 

 also on large open fields near the south coast. Immense flocks assemble 

 on the estuarine marshes and mud-banks of our larger rivers in winter, 

 when there is an extensive immigration from the east. It is found 

 on f;illow-lauds in spring, on moorlands in summer, and on mud- 

 banks and marshes in winter, appearing on the estuaries at the end 

 of October or early in November. During the severe weather in February 

 1873, we saw great numbers flying around the houses at Holcorabe 

 (between Dawlish and Teignmouth) like Pigeons, and very tame, many 

 also flying out to sea. Lapwings were extremely numerous in January 

 1882 *at Plymouth (J. G., Zool. 1882, p. 450). Very large flocks 

 frequented the Exe estuary below Topsham during the winter of 1889-90 

 from November to February, Lapwings were seen arriving from the 

 eastward by thousands, and the whole country was covered with them 

 after the snow-storm of December 20th, 1800; they remained only a few 

 weeks. 



