24 ANNALS OF SCOTTISH NATURAL HISTORY 



pathetic, and he was tame to a ridiculous degree, consenting to 

 brood his young in front of the camera erected on its tripod, 

 wholly without a covering of any sort, even with the operator 

 standing behind. The young were very weak and appeared to 

 thread their way between the grass with difficulty, but showed 

 no inclination to take to the water. The cock, in paternal 

 fervour, was constantly seen attempting to brood a clutch of three 

 Tern's eggs in mistake for his own young. Curious evolutions 

 performed by the male during the process of courting were 

 observed. In so doing he would dart with amazing rapidity 

 above the head of his mate, who was floating placidly in the 

 water, zig-zag from side to side, uttering a low sort of warble all 

 the time ; then flit off to the marsh and settling there would 

 call vigorously to his mate, turning his head from side to 

 side as if expecting her to follow him. According to my 

 experience, the male takes just as prominent part in the process 

 of courting as the female, and he just as often chases and pecks 

 her, though occasionally she turns the tables and gives him a 

 very bad time. Owing no doubt to the adverse conditions, 

 only about one-third of the usual number remained to breed. 



DUNLIN, Tringa a/pi/ia, Linn. Advance parties arrived at the end 

 of May, and braving the elements commenced to nest. The 

 remainder arrived in straggling detachments early in June. At 

 that time " scrapes," evidently made by the cock bird, were to 

 be found on almost every tussock of grass ; but the energy con- 

 sumed in making these is entirely wasted, for not one in a 

 hundred are occupied. The first nest, containing four eggs, was 

 found on 5th June. This and three others found subsequently 

 all fell victims to the rapaciousness of the Common Gull, a fact 

 which gauges the accuracy of that bird's eyesight. During the 

 breeding season the male Dunlin becomes a most sprightly bird, 

 and resents the presence of another individual of the same sex. 

 His attachment to his mate he displays by chasing her con- 

 tinuously, uttering his characteristic trill. While the female is 

 incubating he soars to quite a considerable height, and descends 

 with quivering wings to the same tune. Often two, as if vying 

 with each other, may be seen thus performing. Often I 

 watched them courting. The male sidles up to the female and 

 raises one wing, whereupon she coyly flits off and he after her, 

 to repeat the performance. I found the sitting bird easy to 

 photograph, taking no notice whatever of the camera, but 

 objecting strongly to our presence in the vicinity. These birds 

 make no demonstration against the Common Gulls. Even 

 while taking our pictures one of the latter was always in attend- 

 ance, and we had the greatest difficulty in keeping the contents 

 of the nest safe. The female was always accompanied to 



