Observations on the Dottrel. 299 



only in the northern counties of England, but also in the High- 

 lands of Scotland. 



Secondly ; that this bird annually resorted to various moun- 

 tains in the north of England, as well as in Scotland, to breed. 



Thirdly ; that the eggs of this species had not only been 

 found, but likewise described.* 



I shall now, without further comment, lay before my read- 

 ers Mr. Selby's remarks. 



" The dottrel can only be reckoned a cursory visitant, at 

 two periods of its migratory nights, viz. in spring, during the 

 months of April and May, when on its way to higher latitudes, 

 for the breeding season, and again in September and October, 

 on its return to its winter quarters in the warmer parts of Eu- 

 rope and Asia. By some writers, however, it has been sup- 

 posed that a part of the birds which visit Britain in spring, re- 

 main to breed upon the moors of the northern counties of Eng- 

 land and the Highlands of Scotland. Amongst whom Montagu 

 and Dr. Fleming seem to favour this opinion ; the former of 

 whom, in his ' Ornithological Dictionary,' after stating the 

 probability of the fact, observes that he once saw dottrels in 

 Scotland sufficiently late to induce him to entertain such an 

 idea ; and further adds, that Colonel Thornton informed him 

 of having seen dottrels in pairs upon the Grampian hills : but 

 unfortunately, in neither of these cases is the precise time of 

 the year mentioned. Dr. Fleming, in his ' History of British 

 Animals,' cites a passage from the 'Statistical Account of the 

 Parish of Carmylie,' in favor of the above supposition : but 

 the paragraph is too generally worded to establish as a fact, 

 the residence and breeding of these birds upon the Grampian 

 mountains. 



" In Northumberland, (where considerable flocks annually 

 appear in certain haunts near the coast, in the month of May, 

 and where their visit seldom extends beyond a week or ten 

 days), I have, during summer, examined all the upland moors 

 and the range of the Cheviot hills, these being the situations 

 to which they would naturally retire, if any remained to breed, 

 but always without success : nor did the bird appear to be 

 known to the shepherds, or other inhabitants of these districts. 

 The same may be said of the moors of Cumberland, and the 

 south-western parts of Scotland, where indeed it is of very 

 rare occurrence, even during its periodical flight ; the line of 

 the migration of the passing bodies that visit us in the spring 



* The eggs of the dottrel are figured in no less than three continental 

 works, all of which were published prior to or in the year 1830, two of them 

 are exclusively devoted to the eggs of the European birds. 



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