DOTTREL L. 



Charadrius morinellus, Linn. 

 Le Pluvier guignard. 



The natural history of this species is less perfectly known than that of many others which are much more 

 rare. It is seen in several parts of England, and in considerable numbers, but only at two periods during 

 each year, in its passage to and from that country in which it breeds ; yet where that very important part of 

 its economy is accomplished to any extent, has been but partially proved. 



These birds make their first appearance every year in the month of May, sometimes as early as April, and are 

 then in their finest plumage. The female frequently weighs upwards of four ounces, and measures almost ten 

 inches in length ; the male weighs only three ounces and a half, and measures but nine inches and a half. The 

 plumage of the sexes is not very dissimilar ; and it has happened to us, that the largest in size, as well as the 

 finest in plumage we have ever been able to procure, have invariably, on internal examination, proved to be 

 females. The beak is dusky ; irides hazel ; the forehead speckled with brown aud white ; crown of the head 

 much darker, the middle of each feather being nearly black and edged with light brown ; from the beak, 

 and passing over the eye on each side, is a broad band of white, which extending backwards almost unite at 

 the nape of the neck ; chin and throat white, with small elongated brown spots ; the whole of the neck below 

 ash-grey ; back and wing-coverts light yellowish brown, each feather edged with pale fawn-colour ; lower part 

 of the neck white, occasionally bounded above with a narrow line of black ; breast rich orange ; abdomen 

 black ; region of the vent and under tail-coverts greyish white ; quill-feathers dusky brown ; the tail-feathers 

 olive brown, — both margined with pale ferruginous ; legs dingy yellow brown ; toes darker. Young birds 

 of the year have the crown of the head mottled with brown and white, the white mark over the eye less con- 

 spicuous, the colours on the upper parts more dull, with the whole under surface of the body pale ferruginous 

 and dusky. 



It is stated of these birds, that they are more abundant in x4sia than in Europe ; rather common during 

 winter in the Grecian Archipelago and the Levant; are seen, on their passage, in Germany and France, but 

 very rarely in Holland. They visit Sweden, Dalecarlia, and the Lapland Alps, and breed in the northern parts 

 of Russia and Siberia. 



In our own country they frequent the downs of Sussex, Hampshire, Wiltshire, Berkshire and Cambridgeshire, 

 resorting to the open fallow-grounds in their vicinity for food, which consists principally of insects and worms. 

 They first appear about May, in small flocks, or trips as they are called, of from four or five to ten birds each, 

 on their passage northwards, and return at the end of August recruited in numbers by the addition of their 

 offspring, and we have at that season seen twenty and sometimes thirty together. We have learned also from 

 old shepherds on the Royston and Cambridge hills, that these birds were formerly much more numerous there 

 than they are at present. They are also seen in Lincolnshire, Derbyshire and Yorkshire. They appear in 

 the neighbourhood of Carlisle in May, remaining ten days or a fortnight, and then depart for Skiddaw and 

 the adjoining mountains, where they are said to breed annually. On Skiddaw in particular, a few of these 

 birds have been seen and shot in the month of June, and their nests and eggs taken. 



Montague, and also Colonel Thornton, saw an occasional pair of Dottrell in Scotland, at a season which 

 warranted them in concluding that some of these birds produced their young in that country. We do not 

 remember any record of their having been seen in the Hebrides, nor does Mr. Low include them in his Fauna 

 of Orkney and Shetland. 



Dr. Latham, in his General History of Birds, informs us, that in the district of Aberdeenshire, called Braemor, 

 (being the most elevated part of the country,) these birds hatch their young on dry mossy ground near to, and 

 on the very summits of, the highest parts ; sometimes in the little tufts of short heather, or moss, which are 

 to be found in those elevated grounds : even in so exposed a situation they take so little trouble to form 

 their nest, that were it not by the eggs, no person could suppose there was one. The hen sits three weeks, 

 and the young birds make their appearance about the middle of July : they rarely lay above three eggs, and 

 generally bring forward as many young. 



The eggs of these birds are so difficult to obtain, that we only know one collector who possesses them. 

 They are one inch eight lines long, by one inch two lines and a half in breadth, light olive brown, blotched 

 and spotted with black : — these specimens were procured from the Grampian Hills. 



About the periods of their passage to and from their breeding-ground, as before referred to, a few of the 

 Dottrell are to be seen occasionally in the London markets, and always command a considerable price for so 

 small a bird, usually selling readily at six shillings per couple. A young bird in good condition is said to be 

 of exquisite flavour. 



