226 HILL BIRDS OF SCOTLAND 



strokes only a few feet above the surface of the ground. 

 Sometimes, in its anxiety, the Dotterel flies almost into 

 you before swerving off with soft, whistling cries as it 

 realises its danger. 



Although, when they have a family to protect, Dotterel 

 often show quite a noteworthy absence of fear, this is 

 by no means always the case. 



On one occasion I came across a couple of broods of 

 young Dotterel on the same hill plateau, about 100 yards 

 distant from each other. The parent in charge of the 

 family I first discovered flew round me in considerable 

 anxiety, but in the second case, although I remained for 

 some time beside one of the chicks — only a few days old, 

 and in such a helpless state that one would have imagined 

 considerable apprehension would have been shown on its 

 behalf — the parent bird remained some little dist^mee 

 off, and, as far as could be seen, showed no great interest 

 in the affairs of its offspring. 



It was on a certain day of May that the pair of 

 Dotterel, concerning the family affairs of whom I propose 

 giving an account, and whom I watched closely through 

 Vhe first portion of their duties as parents, arrived on the 

 hill-top. Judging by his more subdued colouring and 

 smaller size, also by the fact that the feathers of his head 

 were brown-tipped, I believe that in this case at all events 

 the male Dotterel carried through unaided the duties 

 of incubation. On June Gth, a day of cold winds and 

 threatening skies, I visited his hill, and had searched 

 for only a few minutes when the Dotterel rose in 

 front of me and, with fluttering and hesitating flight, 

 moved off a few yards before settling and running 

 along the ground. The nest was easy to find. It 

 was the slightest of hollows scraped amongst the short 

 heather, and devoid of lining or decoration of any kind. 

 The eggs, three in number, were strikingly beautiful. 



