298 
DOTTEREL. 
insects, particularly the Coleoptera, many species 
of which are extremely abundant on the coasts, 
and come abroad in numbers during 1 the heat of 
the day. 
A specimen killed in Dumfries-shire, in the end of 
March, has the crown clove-brown, bordered above 
each eye with white, which meets at the occiput; 
the chin, cheeks, and throat, are white ; the whole 
upper parts of the body, neck, and upper part of 
breast, hair-brown ; the feathers on the back and 
wings edged with pale orange-brown ; immedi- 
ately bordering the hair-brown on the breast, the 
feathers are tipped with dark edges, forming a 
narrow band, this is succeeded by a white gor- 
get, gradually shading into rich brownish-orange, 
which occupies the whole lower part of the breast 
and belly, blending into a deep black conspicuous 
patch in the centre of the latter; the vent and 
under tail-coverts white ; the quills are dark hair- 
brown, the first with a strong and conspicuous 
white shaft ; the tail hair-brown, darker towards 
the tip, forming- almost a bar across the ends of 
the three outward white feathers. This is nearly 
the plumage in the breeding time; the females 
have the colours of the breast scarcely so bright 
or marked. When these colours have been put off, 
the lower parts, we believe, are nearly white, and 
the crown loses the depth of its shade. Birds, 
however, are not frequently met with in this state, 
and a minute description is not given in any of 
our works. 
