I88 THE SCOTTISH NATURALIST 



thereto until the finding, in June 1913, of the nest already- 

 referred to. 



On this occasion my younger brother was stalking some 

 deer to photograph them, and while watching from a distance 

 I heard the call of a Dotterel, and noticed a bird flying 

 at a fair height. It seemed to alight on the plateau above 

 me. To this I climbed, and beat it carefully, with no 

 success, but just as I was about to give up I heard the 

 call from a subsidiary plateau on the shoulder of the hill. 

 Here I soon saw a Dotterel standing and calling at frequent 

 intervals. Without disturbing it I returned to get my 

 brother who had, up to that time, never seen this interesting 

 bird. When we returned about half an hour later the bird 

 was in the same place and calling as before. It was a very 

 brightly coloured one, and was so tame that when, with 

 camera in hand, I slowly crept forward, I was almost near 

 enough for an exposure when it suddenly flew away, 

 accompanied by another which seemed to spring out 

 of the ground beside it. The second bird was, of course, 

 off a nest. There were three eggs, the invariable number 

 in each of the several nests I have found. In a very short 

 time Dotterel re-appeared. There were three, one brightly 

 and two more soberly coloured birds. The brightly coloured 

 one was without doubt the bird which had been standing 

 calling beside the nest. All three now commenced to run 

 about in an anxious manner, and if we drove one away it 

 soon returned. The day was, however, too cold to keep the 

 birds off the nest for long, and we left the place, intending to 

 return soon to continue our investigations. Most execrable 

 weather upset our plans. We did revisit the nest and I 

 took photographs of the sitting bird, which this time was 

 unattended. I was only just in time, for mist enveloped us 

 immediately afterwards, and I never again had an opportunity 

 of going back. On this second occasion, as on the first, it 

 was a soberly coloured bird which was on the nest. 



The behaviour of the three birds at this nest was so 

 striking that we could not fail to remark it, and taken in 

 conjunction with similar occurrences at the nest found in 

 1907, the only probable explanation I can see is that the 



