THE WADERS OF SOLWAY. 47 



It is of importance to draw attention once again to a point 

 that has often been noted before — the comparative scarcity of 

 some species, in regard to numbers, present in Solway when 

 contrasted with their comparative abundance along the East 

 Coast of Great Britain. A glance at the map will show that 

 the Solway Firth lies directly west of the narrowest part of 

 Great Britain, a piece of land that almost any migrant might 

 fly across in an hour; yet how few clo it when compared with 

 the va.st flocks that go down along the East Coast once they 

 have crossed over the North Sea! 



Without further preliminaries, let me give you my enumera- 

 tion of the Waders of Solway — 



Dotterel (Eudromias morinellus). 



The eggs have been taken on the mountains above Loch 

 Dungeon. Some years ago I heard the call of the Dotterel 

 there on a rather wild, stormy day in May, but was unable to 

 see the bird. Dr. Davidson, of Sanquhar, a good ornithologist, 

 now in California, discovered Dotterels on the hills west of 

 Sanquhar about 1882, but failed to find the nests. At one time 

 there were a few pairs on the Moffat range, but whether they 

 are still there in the breeding season I am without any recent 

 information. 



On their northward migration in spring, flocks were often 

 seen on the ploughed fields some thirty to forty years ago. 

 These are not observed now-a-days, and for the last ten years 

 at least I have neither heard of nor seen any on the southward 

 journey. 



Ringed Plover (^Egicditis hiaticola). 



One of our most familiar species, but spread along shore 

 for most of the year in small parties, aggregating less only than 

 the Sea Pyet, the Dunlin, the Knot, and the Redshank. Every- 

 where comparatively tame and confiding, it owes its immunity 

 from inclusion in many shore-shooters' bags to this confidence 

 in human nature. In winter some very large flocks are 

 occasionally seen, but these disperse whenever good weather 

 again recurs. 



