THE OOLOGISTS' RECORD. 



Edited by KENNETH L. SKINNER. 



ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. 



Vol. Ill— No. 1.] [March 1, 1923. 



OBSERVATIONS ON THE NESTING OF THE 

 DOTTEREL (Ghamdrius morine/lus). 



By Norman Gilroy. 



In the course cf a short visit to the Grampians in the spring 

 of the year — 1922 — I had a somewhat interesting experience 

 of this charming and attractive Plover in its nesting haunts, some 

 3000 feet above sea level. I arrived at my centre on the evening 

 of June 1st — a perfect summer day it had been throughout my 

 journey, hot and cloudless. Within an hour of my arrival in 

 Inverness-shire, however, the wind stole round to the north without 

 warning ; an icy arctic mist crept along the valley, and at 10.30 p.m. 

 — summer time — a thick white blanket lay on the hills almost down 

 to the road and to the Highland Line lying at their base. 



The morning broke dull and cheerless, and, except that it was 

 dry, without a single redeeming feature. The prospect of climbing 

 to the high tops was, to say the least of it, uninviting, and we 

 reluctantly determined that there was nothing for it but to spend 

 the day along the river on the lower ground. Soon after mid-day, 

 however, the mist seemed to lighten a little, and we bore away to 

 the foot-hills to try our luck, striking more by the labouring of chance 

 than anything else the easiest and most gradual spur leading to 

 the wide and commanding plateau on the summit. The points of 

 the compass being well known to us, we had little difficulty in 

 making the ascent, which was smooth, comfortable, and not 

 in the least exhausting. On the other hand, it was singularly weird 

 and mysterious, as, although the cloud was not nearly so dense as 

 it had appeared from the road, one could not really see with 

 certainty for more than a few yards ahead : a boulder of quite 

 modest dimensions seemed a towering precipice ; a startled sheep 

 a monstrous ghostl}^ shape of unknown horror, and all the while 

 the Ptarmigan were croaking everywhere like unseen and gigantic 

 frogs. Once an Eagle swept past us and disappeared. 



On the summit, which we reached without m.isadventure, it 



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