Fauna of Tioizell. .395 



ly increasing, which may be attributed to the shelter and security 

 it finds in the plantations as nurseries for its young. 



Among the Grallatores may be noticed the green sandpiper, (Tota- 

 nus ochropus) a bird of rare occurrence in all parts of the kingdom. 

 Its congener (T. hypoleucos) breeds upon the margins of the rivulet, 

 and from its lively manners and elegant night, proves an interest- 

 ing addition to the Fauna. The golden Plover (Charadrius pluvi- 

 alis) visits the fallows during autumn and winter in large flocks ; 

 in spring they disperse and retire to breed upon the adjoining moors, 

 at which time they assume the livery of the C. opricarius of au- 

 thors, the white of the under parts giving place to a deep black. 

 To obtain the eggs, the birds must be watched at a distance, as the 

 female, upon the approach of any intruder, at the warning note of 

 the male, immediately skulks off from the nest, and only shows her- 

 self, when she has got to a considerable distance from it. The 

 dottrel (Ch. morinellus) we see only during its migration north- 

 wards in May, and then but occasionally, as the great resting point 

 of the flocks which pass by this route, is further to the north, in the 

 neighbourhood of Berwick. The wild goose sometimes in spring 

 alights upon our new sown fields, but the usual feeding grounds of 

 the species are all at a considerable distance, and these they have 

 been known to haunt from time immemorial. The wild duck (Anas 

 boschas) frequently breeds with us, but the old duck conducts her 

 young as soon as hatched with all possible dispatch further down 

 the rivulet, from whence they can have access to marshes and other 

 ground appropriated to their habits of concealment. The common 

 gull (Larus canus) is seen in the pastures, and plowed fields during 

 the autumn and winter months, whenever the ground is free from snow 

 and frost. It leaves us in April, retiring further north in order to 

 breed, and it is succeeded by the lesser black-backed gull (Larus 

 fuscus,) which resorts to the Farn Islands in great numbers, for the 

 purpose of reproduction. 



Of the reptiles, the blind or slow worm (Anguis fragilis) is far 

 from uncommon in the dry and stony parts of the Deans ; the ad- 

 der (Pelias berus of Buonap. Vipera communis of Jenyns,) abounds 

 in all the Deans, and other dry and warm exposures. I have been 

 unable to detect more than one species, though a great difference 

 of colour is observable among them, but this I find varies according 

 to the age of the epidermis, season of the year, sex, &c. The com- 

 mon lizard (Lacerta agilis) is the only species I have yet had an 

 opportunity of examining, but I think we may possibly possess the 



