the birds of cumberland. 133 



Genus EUDROMIAS. 



E. Morinellus. Dotterel. 



The Dotterel is a summer visitant, a very few 

 pairs arriving at the beginning of May, to nest 

 sporadically on the mountains of the lake district 

 and the Crossfell rans^e. At the close of the last 

 century, Dr. Heysham expressed an opinion that 

 the Dotterel bred on Skiddaw : — " The Dotterel 

 comes in May, is a scarce bird in this county, but 

 is more plentiful in Westmorland. In June, 1784, 

 ten or twelve were shot upon Skiddaw, where they 

 breed ; on the 18th of May, 1786, I had two females 

 sent from the neighbourhood of Appleby. On dis- 

 section, I found the eggs very small, so that it is 

 possible they do not lay till June." 



In 1834, Mr. R. Senhouse observed a number 

 of Dotterel on Great Gable ; and, about the same 

 time, Mr. J. W. Harris received a young bird, only 

 partially fledged, which had been discovered by a 

 dog on Red Pike. A wing of this specimen was 

 submitted some years later to Mr. T. C. Heysham, 

 who pronounced that it had evidently been bred 

 on Red Pike. 



It was in 1835, that Mr. Heysham obtained 

 the eggs of the Dotterel and the young in down, 

 and his success was due to the acumen of his 

 collector, the late James Cooper, to whose memory 

 Mr. F. Nicholson has passed a fitting tribute in the 

 following narrative, most kindly supplied at our 

 request, and embodying the results of an unequalled 



