356 Banffshire Fauna. [APPENDIX. 
CHARADRIUS MORINELLUS [Dotterel]. 
Occasionally met with. On once asking an old keeper from the 
higher grounds as to where this species breeds, he replied, “On 
the gray slopes of the highest mountains, far above all the other 
birds, except the ptarmigan.” I am doubtful whether it breeds 
with us at all. 
CHARADRIUS HIATICULA [Ringed Plover]. 
These breed with us, and remain all the year round. I have found 
their eggs on the sand by the beach, and forty miles inland. They 
likewise nestle on the shingly banks and islands along our river- 
courses. They are known here by the names of “sea-lark” and 
“sunny liverock.” 
VANELLUS MELANOGASTER [ Gray Plover]. 
Rather rare, and I believe only a winter visitor. 
VaneELLvs cristatus [ Lapwing]. 
Found on heaths and moors, and in fields, where they breed. Many 
of them leave us toward winter: This is another species which 
endeavors to mislead you when searching for its eggs. Of all our 
field and heath birds, the lapwing is one of the most useful in de- 
stroying destructive insects, such as Zabrus gibbus, etc. 
Srrepsinas inTerpres [ Turn-stone]. 
An occasional visitor, generally in winter. See p. 220. 
Caipris arenaria [Sanderling]. 
A regular visitor, generally arriving in August, a few of them re- 
maining through the winter. I have met with them, too, in sum- 
mer, when their predominant color, instead of being whitish, is a 
most beautiful reddish fawn. On their first arrival here they are 
very tame, allowing you to approach within a yard or two. See 
p. 164. 
Hamatopus ostratecus [ Oyster-catcher]. 
Why this bird is called oyster-catcher, I can ngt understand. Had 
it been named “limpet-catcher,” I could have understood it. I 
have crawled among the rocks in order to see them feed; when I 
have seen the limpet driven from its hold, and scooped out of its 
shell with as much apparent ease as I could have picked up a 
Gammaris locusta ; but I have never seen it attempt to catch an 
oyster. On this part of the coast its food generally consists of 
the limpet, and very rarely of Acmeea testitudinalis. I have count- 
ed as many as forty-one of the former in the stomach of a single 
bird, while of the latter I have not met with more than three or 
four examples. The oyster-catcher is a summer visitor with us, 
