518 



12 



"The Dotterel is found and breeds high up in the fells near Kautokeino and Lyngensfjeld. 

 About ten years ago a few pairs used to frequent Pallastunturi and Aunastunturi, about four 

 or six miles (Swedish) from here ; but I have not seen any there for some years past. Its nest 

 is very hard to find, as the bird sits close until one is within a few yards of the nest, and then 

 slips off and tries to lure the intruder away ; but the Laps are not so easily deceived, and soon 

 find the nest by dogged perseverance. This bird is the only Wader here in Lapland which never 

 deposits more than three eggs; and the full complement is usually deposited between the 18th 

 and 30th June." Mr. Meves himself points out that Messrs. Palmen and Sahlberg, who visited 

 Muonioniska in 1867, say that about the 29th May large flocks of this bird arrived, and, after an 

 interval of a couple of weeks, left for the fells, to breed. They were so little shy that they might 

 be caught by the hand ; and numbers were snared in hair nooses. On the spring migration, 

 Mr. Meves says, it is but seldom seen in Southern Sweden and near Stockholm. He confirms 

 what Knoblock says respecting this bird only laying three eggs ; and out of over fifty clutches 

 which have passed through his hands he never knew one to consist of more than that number. 

 The largest eggs he has had, measured from 45 to 46 by 29 millimetres, and the smallest 36 by 

 28 and 38 by 27 millimetres. 



Most authors give Eudromias as of Boie, Isis, 1822 ; but I have failed to find any mention 

 of this genus prior to 1831, when C. L. Brehm gives it as of Boie, but does not state if, or where, 

 it was published ; and I think it probable that Boie never published it prior to that date, espe- 

 cially as I find that Boie, in the 'Isis' for 1822, refers to the Dotterel under the name of 

 Charadrius morinellus. 



The specimens figured are an adult female from Sweden, in full breeding-dress, and a young 

 bird, in down, from Lapland, and in the background is an adult bird in winter dress — these being 

 also the specimens described. 



In the preparation of the above article I have examined the following specimens : — 



E Mus. H. E. Dresser. 



a. Pagham, Sussex, July 1870 (R. B. Sharpe). b, $. Stockholm market, May 25th, 1864 {Prof. Sundevall). 

 c, $ . Jockmock, Lapland, May 31st, 1867 [A. Couttingius) . d, <$ . Jutland, June 25th, 1864 (A. Benzon). 

 e,<3- Haskeuy, Turkey, November 3rd, 1869 (T.Robson). f, 8 . Maslak, Turkey, April 4th, 1869 

 (T. Robson). g,6. Near Beersheba, Palestine, February 2nd, 1864 (H. B. Tristram). h, d. Lake 

 Baikal, July 15th, 1870 [Dr. Dybowski). i,pull. Porsangerfiord, Norway, July 5th, 1872 (R. Collett). 

 k,pull. Kautokeino, Lapland, July 1872 (W. Meves). 



E Mus. Howard Saunders. 



a, d, b,2- Melbourne, Cambridgeshire, May 10th, 1855 [H. S.). c,juv. Seville, November. d,juv. Gra- 

 nada, December 1872. e,f,d. Jylland, Denmark, June 25th, 1864. g, ? . Vadso, June 28th, 1874 

 (H. Seebohm). 



E Mus. H. B. Tristram. 



a, 3 . Epworth, May 13th, 1867. b, $ . Lincolnshire, April 26th, 1867. c, $ . Sahara, November 1st, 1856 

 (H.B.T.). d,<5. Palestine, February 1st, 1864 (H.B.T.). e, $ . Palestine, February 5th, 1864 

 (H.B. T.). 



