234 THE COMMON DOTTEKEL. 



or six to a dozen, and pitch on undulating downs 

 and hillocks near the sea. Eough grass and 

 heather has less attraction for this bird than thin 

 fallow fields. But the most favoured feeding- 

 ground of all is a newly broken up and sown 

 down field of old lea, where they seem to find the 

 most abundant supply. 



We were about to leave Edinburgh for our 

 country home, when a note from the courteous 

 and accomplished Baronet of Dunglass warned me 

 that the dotterels had appeared. This was on the 

 12th of May of the present year. On the 14th I 

 took the earliest train out, and was at Dunglass 

 to breakfast. Directly after, the head-keeper and 

 two assistants were in waiting; and by every 

 means in his power my kind host had endeavoured 

 to insure success. 



We threaded the glorious woody ravine sur- 

 rounding the baronial halls of Dunglass, and I 

 then started on a most fascinating coast drive, 

 with my old acquaintances the Bass and the May 

 in the distance, while the far view to the south 

 was bounded by the romantic outline of Fast 

 Castle, whose battlements could be dimly traced. 



