4 THE BIRDS OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



a harmless and rapidly diminishing species of bird 

 merely for the sake of letting off powder and shot. 

 The Stone-Curlew, in my opinion, feeds principally at 

 night, and his loud and somewhat melancholy note is 

 to be heard throughout the dark hours, as he flies to 

 and from the nearest soft places. In captivity these 

 birds become exceedingly tame, and will eat almost 

 any animal or vegetable food. 



134. DOTTEREL 



CJtaradnus morinellus. 



No part of our county with which I have any 

 acquaintance is now suited to the usual habits of this 

 species, except possibly the fens of our extreme 

 north-east; but as the bird is a vernal migrant to 

 this country and used formerly to visit parts of 

 Cambridgeshire and West Norfolk, more or less 

 regularly, on passage to its northern breeding-stations 

 in April and May, and again in September and 

 October on the return journey to winter-quarters, 

 there is at least nothing improbable about its chance 

 appearance "s^^.thin our limits. 



At the time of the first writing of these notes for 

 publication in the ' Journal of the Northampt. Nat. 

 History Society,' I had no better evidence of the 

 occurrence of this species in our county than my own 

 recollection of a story of one having been killed 

 against the telegraph-wires on the London & N.W. 

 Railway near Thorpe, about the year 1849. I can, 

 however, now add the Dotterel without any hesitation 

 to my list. A very fine adult specimen was killed 

 on the Grange Farm, Raunds, on October 26th, 1886, 



