The Oolosists' Record, March 1, 1923. 



amongst the grass tussocks, this time a little to the east ; and this 

 time I knew it was a Dotterel ! 



In about five minutes I found the eggs ; and how I missed them 

 before is beyond me, for they were not 5 feet from where I had 

 put my stick down ! This nest was singularly beautiful, well made 

 and fairlv deep. It was on a piece of flat ground, covered with pale 

 gray moss and isolated by two patches of gravelly stones. The eggs 

 were bright and fresh looking, but were remarkably difficult to see. 



The behaviour of this Dotterel was certainly very extraordinar\-. 

 Although we followed her up after finding the nest, we could not 

 see her anywhere, and had it not been our good fortune to spot her 

 elegant little disappearing form twice in the same area, we should 

 assuredly not have found the nest at all. 



There now remained unexplored but the southern end of the 

 plateau, 3.004 feet above the sea, harsh and bleak. 



The 5th June, however, was a day of glorious sunshine, although 

 the wind was cold, and we determined to tackle it. We made the 

 ascent by a spur directly below its main summit, and when we 

 were within 150 feet of the top, I was astonished to see a Dotterel 

 rise about 30 yards to my right and skim away over the skyline. 

 I imagined it to be a feeding bird suddenly disturbed and hurrying 

 away, but on walking forward to the spot from which she had risen 

 I was agreeably surprised to see a nest with two eggs very much 

 darker and browner than any I had seen before. This flying from 

 the nest was quite a new phase, and I was becoming a little puzzled 

 as to the procedure to be observed with this fascinating species 

 to obtain the best results, although I had to admit that up to the 

 present my experience had not been unsatisfactory. 



This nest was in a deep tussock of heather on the edge of a sheep 

 track, and the actual hollow was nearly as deep as in the nest of 

 a Golden Plover. But beyond the hollow itself there was no 

 "nest" or extraneous material at all. Although there were 

 only two eggs, they looked very polished and highly incubated. 



More for the purpose of resting after our long climb than any- 

 thing else, we sat down a few feet from this nest, and we had 

 scarcely done so before the Dotterel came skimming back. She 

 pitched about ten yards from us, ran about unconcernedly, picked 

 up a morsel or two of food — probably spiders — and without hesitation 

 settled down on her eggs. \\'e rose and walked quietly and rather 

 ashamedly away. 



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