THE DOTTEREL 215 



migration to less frequented localities, though no nest 

 has been discovered for a good many years now. Until 

 comparatively recent times a number nested every year 

 on the high tops of the Lake District, notably on Skiddaw, 

 but they have now ceased to visit this part of the country 

 except on the migration northward, although an occa- 

 sional pair may at times rear their young in the wildest 

 and most inaccessible portions of the Pennine Range. 



The Dotterel now has a restricted area as a nesting 

 species in these Islands, and is, in fact, confined to the 

 wildest parts of the Grampians, where it produces a family 

 at an elevation of three or four thousand feet above the 

 sea. It has always appeared to me to be a point of 

 considerable interest that " the moss-fool " should be 

 unable to remain in this country throughout the winter, 

 while its near relative, the Golden Plover, spends the 

 dark and short days on the mud flats round our coast-line. 



The contrast in the winter habits of the two birds 

 is the more surprising when it is realised that the nesting 

 sites of the Dotterel are on the most exposed hill-tops 

 and plateaux, where they have during this season of cares 

 and responsibilities only the Ptarmigan as a companion, 

 with perhaps an Eagle or two on his hunting foray ; while 

 the Golden Plover choose nesting grounds which are, 

 at times, but a few hundred feet above sea-level, and 

 only in exceptional conditions are they found breeding 

 at levels where the Dotterel have their home from May to 

 August. It cannot, I think, be that conditions of food- 

 supply are the cause of this southern migration, for the 

 food of the Dotterel and Golden Plover is much the same ; 

 but it may be that the Dotterel, being of slimmer build, 

 is also thinner skinned, and as a result is less able to bear 

 cold weather 



That the Dotterel does find these Islands an unsuit- 

 able home during the winter months is amply borne out 



