CHARADRIIDAE—PLOVERS.
237
telegraph wire in the neighbourhood of Colchester and lost one wing. It came
into the possession of Dr. Bree, who forwarded it to the Zoological Gardens
(Laver). Dr. Bree records (29) that it was brought to him alive in the third
week in Aug., [876, doubtless when on its southward migration ; also that in May,
1880, two were shot out of a flock of seven on migration near Colchester (29. May
29). Mr. Hope writes that he generally sees them in September and May on the
borders of Essex, where they are more common than they were a few years back.
Mr. E. A. Fitch informs me of one "in summer plumage," shot by Mr. W. Sewell
at Bradwell-on-Sea in Sept., 1875, and Dr. Salter has some killed on the shore at
Mersea Island in 1886. In Hone's Every-Day Book, it is stated, under May 10th,
that
" in May and June [? June] this bird is to be found on the Gog-Magog Hills
[which are in Cambridgeshire, but only just beyond the Essex border] and the
moors adjacent. It is caught with nets. * * * There is a tradition current here
that King James I. was very fond of seeing Dotterells taken ; and when he came
to Newmarket used to accompany the birdcatchers to the Gog-Magog Hills and
moors for that purpose." Then follows an amusing anecdote connected with the
sport. Mr. Saunders says (37. iii. 255) that May 10th "used to be known on the
borders of Hertford and Cambridgeshire as ' Dotterell-Day.' "
Peewit or Lapwing: Vanellus vulgaris. Locally, " Green
Plover," "Black Plover," "Horned Pie," and "Flapper-jack"
(E. A. F.—once).
A resident, breeding not uncommonly near the coast and at a few
inland places, but nowhere abundantly in the county. In the winter,
especially after
strong easterly
gales or during se-
vere weather, enor-
mous flocks ap-
pear in the inland
parts of the county,
feeding in ploughed
fields and low
marshy pastures. In
all probability their
absence from the
inland parts of our
county during the breeding season may be largely accounted for by
the better farming now carried on, as Mr. Clarke informs me that
many years ago they were plentiful round Saffron Walden, where they
do not now breed.
On July 24th, 1876, I saw a small party of seven or eight fly over here—a very
unusual occurrence in the breeding season—and in 1879 I saw a flock of twenty
here as early as Oct. 8th. Mr. Buxton says (47. 94) that it is
" Frequently seen in flocks about the fields near Wanstead Park and elsewhere
[in the Forest]. Ten years ago (1874), they used to breed on Fairmead and
near the Wake Arms. I have only observed one pair this year, but there are
some fields just outside the limits of the Forest to which they still resort in spring."