THE DOTTEREL 229 



stags were feeding on tiie fresh young grass, and, when they 

 saw me, moved leisurely up on to the sky-line. Through 

 the glass I could see that they had ventured too near the 

 vicinity of the young of a pair of Tarmaehan for the liking 

 of those mountain birds. The cock Ptarmigan rose from 

 the ground and, fluttering on ahead of the herd, imagined 

 that he had drawn them from the vicinity of his mate 

 with her chicks. After decoying the stags to what he con- 

 sidered a resi:)ectful distance, he flew back to the vicinity 

 of his mate, congratulating himself that she and the young 

 had escaped danger. In the strong sunlight one could 

 almost see the hill grass shooting, and from the young 

 foliage of the blaeberry plants the air was filled with 

 perfume. Near many a small hill streamlet — such a 

 streamlet is known as feith in the poetical language of 

 the Gael — the blossoms of the starry saxifrage were open- 

 ing their white petals with that characteristic yellow spot 

 at the base of each. The yellow saxifrage {Saxifraga 

 azoides) and Saxifraga hypnoides were also noted and 

 admired, while on the edge of the plateau the mountain 

 azalea spread forth its delicate china-like flowers of pink 

 from trailing, prostrate stems. 



The behaviour of the Dotterel was on this occasion 

 different to when last I had visited him, for he allowed 

 me to erect the camera six feet fi-om the nest without 

 abandoning his eggs. I left the camera with its eye point- 

 ing full at him and retired a few yards. He remained 

 without movement for a time. Then, to my surprise, and 

 for no apparent reason, he rose from his nest and fluttered 

 away. 



Again I waited near for the greater part of the day in 

 the hopes that he would return to his nest. I marked 

 the storms gathering in various parts of the wide area seen 

 from this hill plateau. Away to the north the Monadh 

 Liath Mountains, at fu-st clearly defined, and with the 



