298 Observations on the Dottrel. 



three weeks ; from thence to Leyton Haws, where they rest 

 for a fortnight. Are at the same time in plenty about Hol- 

 derness, in Yorkshire, and upon the woulds. These birds ap- 

 pear towards the end of May, in that district of Aberdeenshire 

 called Braemar, being the most elevated part of the country, 

 where they hatch their young, on dry mossy ground, near to 

 and on the summits of the highest parts, sometimes in the lit- 

 tle tufts of short heather or moss, which is to be found in those 

 elevated grounds, and in so exposed a situation. They take 

 so little trouble to form their nest, that were it not for their 

 eggs, no one could suppose there was one. The hen sits three 

 weeks, and the young make their appearance about the mid- 

 dle of July. They rarely lay above three eggs, and generally 

 bring forward as many young. Towards the end of October, 

 they gather together in large flocks, and sometimes hundreds 

 may be seen together, for very considerable numbers breed in 

 the district above-mentioned. However, their assembling in 

 large flocks at the above season, is no proof of their leaving 

 the country before winter, as grouse do the same, which are 

 constant inhabitants ; and our informant once fell in with a 

 small flock of about a dozen, at the foot of the highest moun- 

 tain in that country, about the end of February or beginning 

 of March, the ground having been for many weeks deeply co- 

 vered with snow. Three of these were shot, in good condi- 

 tion, though not so fat as those he used to kill in August and 

 September. As to their breeding place, it is always at an e- 

 levation of from 1500 to 2000 feet above the level of the sea, 

 and Dr. Heysham informed me that ten or twelve were shot 

 on the top of Skiddaw in Cumberland, in the month of June."* 



At the conclusion of a very interesting paper in the Lin- 

 nean Transactions, on the capture of the buff-breasted sand- 

 piper, (Tringa rufescens, Vieill.), near Melbourne in Cam- 

 bridgeshire, Mr. Yarrell remarks that " the extensive range 

 of hills round Melbourne, is frequented by dottrel in consi- 

 derable numbers, for a short period every spring and autumn, 

 and the only locality from which I could ever obtain their 

 eggs, was the Grampian hills." f 



Additional evidence of a similar tendency might be cited 

 from other writers had it been at all necessary ; but I think 

 it clearly appears from the quotations already given, that ma- 

 ny years before the publication of Mr. Selby's ( Illustrations,' 

 it had been satisfactorily ascertained : — 



First ; that the dottrel was a regular summer visitant, not 



* Latham's « General History of Birds?' vol. ix. p. 335. 1829. 

 f* Linnean Transactions,' vol. xvi. p. 109. 1829. 



