MAY ON THE MOORS 79 



the eye should instantly detect the bird as she springs, 

 perhaps ioo yards away, and that amidst scores of 

 wheeling peewits, etc. After that, one must still mark 

 the precise spot, though there be not a feature or an 

 object that will serve as a guide. 



The dunlins here make a slight nest, like a sky- 

 lark's, among short salt-grass or sea-thrift, without 

 much, or any, concealment. But as the bird has often 

 crept away many yards before being perceived, one is 

 still liable to be disappointed, if counting on immediate 

 success. 



We enjoyed seeing on these marshes the most perfect 

 mirage we ever witnessed. Before us, at a mile's distance, 

 stood a country-house, embedded in trees, a green lawn 

 sloping down to a lake- — but well we knew that not a 

 house or a tree existed, in that direction, within ioo 

 miles. It was all open marsh, with the sea beyond. I 

 have seen curious mi rage- effects in the marismas of 

 Spain ; and once, in the Arctic seas, sighted surf-beaten 

 rocks which had no place on the chart. Two Norsk 

 sealing-sloops, which were in sight, were reproduced, 

 inverted, immediately above the actual vessels. In all 

 these other cases, there had been something of distortion 

 or extravagance. Here, in this Solway mirage, every 

 feature was natural and defined. 



I have thus traced the breeding area of the dunlin 

 from the heights of Cheviot, at 2700 feet, down to sea- 

 level on the marshes of the Solway — a singularly wide 

 vertical range within so short a distance. But the geo- 

 graphical distribution of several species of this class 

 affords contrasts even more remarkable. Thus in the 

 extreme south of Spain, both peewit and redshank 

 remain to breed in the blazing heat of Andalusia ; once, 



