220 HILL BIRDS OF SCOTLAND 



chicks, ran straight up to under the lens, and attempted 

 to " brood " her two babies within a few feet of where 

 I was standing. 



While staying in a well-known forest in Inverness-shire 

 during the summer of 1913, I had opportunities of watch- 

 ing the habits of this bird, which certainly seems, in this 

 particular district at all events, to be holding its own. 

 There have at times been rumours to the effect that egg- 

 hunters have taken up their temporary abode in a small 

 village on the far side of the "march," but the lessee of 

 the forest, who is a keen sportsman and naturalist, and who, 

 unlike the majority of Scottish lairds, spends the summer 

 as well as the autumn months at his shooting lodge, 

 impresses on his stalkers the fact that the high grounds 

 must be carefully watched during June, and that any 

 suspicious person must be covered by the stalking-glass 

 and his movements noted, even if he himself is too far 

 distant to be interrogated. 



Our first day on the high tops was unproductive, but 

 on the second occasion we had better luck, for, although 

 we failed to see the birds themselves, we found ample 

 proof of their nesting in the shape of a piece of egg-shell 

 lying on a plateau about 3000 feet above sea-level. During 

 this expedition the cold was intense, though the season 

 was the first week in July, and it was almost impossible 

 to remain for any length of time on the hill-tops. While 

 on our walk to the nesting grounds of the Dotterel, we had 

 an excellent view of an old hill fox. We were descending 

 a steep hill face preparatory to ascending another equally 

 precipitous on the far side of the burn, when I noticed a fox 

 making his way up the opposite hillside. I do not think, 

 judging from his leisurely movements, that he had actu- 

 ally seen us, and as we remained quiet, and half- 

 concealed amongst long heather, Reynard's suspicions 

 gradually became allayed. His progress up the liill 



