180 BIHD GALLERY. 



No. 117. DOTTEREL. (Eudromias morinellus.) 



This Plover is a migrant to the British Islands in late spring and 

 autumn, but a few pairs remain to breed on some of the mountain-tops 

 of Scotland and of the Lake District. The nest is a mere hollow in the 

 moss covering some elevated plateau, where the vegetation consists 

 chiefly of deer-grass and dwarf alpine plants. Patches of the little pink 

 flower Silene acaulis (some nearly a square yard in extent) abounded in 

 the proximity of the nest exhibited, and contrasted strikingly in colour 

 with the otherwise sombre surroundings. The eggs, three in number, 

 are yellowish olive heavily blotched and spotted with brownish-black ; 

 they are laid early in June, and are remarkably difficult to flnd, owing 

 to the fact that the parent, if sitting,- will allow itself to be almost 

 trodden on before it leaves the nest. 



Banffshire, 3300 feet alt., June. 



Presented by Captain S. G. Reid, W. R. Ogilvie- Grant &; 

 G. A. St. Quintin, Esqrs. 



No. 118. ARCTIC or RICHARDSON'S SKUA. 



(Stercorarius crepidatus.) 



This cireumpolar species, most common on the northern and eastern 

 coasts of Grreat Britain, breeds in the north of Scotland and has nume- 

 rous colonies on the Shetlands, Orkneys, and Outer Hebrides. It feeds 

 principally on fish, obtained by robbing the smaller Gulls and Terns ; 

 but is also said to prey on wounded birds and on the eggs of other sea- 

 fowl. Two brownish-green eggs, blotched with dark brown, are laid 

 in a hollow in the moss or grass of the open moorland in the vicinity 

 of the coast. 



Two distinct phases of plumage occur, one being entirely sooty, while 

 the other has light under-parts : in the pairs exhibited, the light-coloured 

 specimen is a male. 



Island of Mousa, Shetlands, June. 



Presented by Lieut. G. H. Bruce, R.N. 



No. 119. GREAT BLACK-BACKED GULL. 



(Larus marinus.) 



This rapacious Gull, the largest of our resident species, is to be met 

 with at all seasons on the British coasts. It breeds in small numbers 

 on the south and west coasts of England and in Wales, but is common 



