234 HILL BIRDS OF SCOTLAND 



when away from his home, for a minute or two afterwards 

 I could see him running at top speed back towards his nest. 

 His soft whistle he uttered only when he was very near 

 to me, and on one occasion he moved off a few feet, and 

 turning towards the hill-top where I had seen his mate, 

 whistled three times with a note quite distinctive from 

 his usual cry, and as near as it can be put in writing, 

 sounding like " peeu, peeu, peeu." His mate was cither 

 indifferent, or more probably was out of range at the time, 

 for during all my visits to the nest I did not once see her 

 or hear her near. Sometimes I retreated, and allowed 

 the Dotterel to return to the nest for the space of half 

 an hour or so. 



After he had become more or less used to my presence, 

 he was in the habit of sitting very close after such an 

 absence on my part, so that I was able on one occasion to 

 approach to within a very few feet without causing him 

 to leave. When, however, his nervousness was such 

 that he was unable to remain at his post longer, he 

 jumped from his nest and dragged himself along the 

 ground in a crouching position with his tail spread to its 

 greatest extent and his wings beating the heather. He 

 uttered the while plaintive cries — not whistles — which 

 were sufficiently distressed to move even the most stony- 

 hearted. 



I had ample opportunities of observing his beautiful 

 plumage during my long waits. On the crown of his head 

 the feathers — black at a distance — were seen to be in 

 reality of a very dark chocolate brown. His ash-grey 

 neck and upper breast were bounded by a strongly-marked 

 line of white with an irregular margin of black feathers, 

 and the lower part of his breast was of a warm red brown 

 tint. On his back the feathers were tawny, each mar- 

 gined with white. Sometimes as he ran the wind blew 

 his tail feathers almost over his back, with curious effect. 



