THE DOTTEEEL. 211 



passage, the Wood-cock and the Dotterel, seen here ; the 

 first frequents the woods, and are few in numbers ; the 

 second appears in vast numbers on the heights." 1 The 

 minister of the parish of Mordington, the Eev. George 

 Drummond, writes in 1 *7 9 5 : "In the higher grounds of 

 this parish Dotterels are supposed to appear sooner than 

 in any parts of the south of Scotland." 2 The Keports on 

 Berwickshire in the New Statistical Account of Scotland 

 were written in 1834-35, and in them this species is 

 mentioned as occurring in two parishes in the county, 

 Cockburnspath 3 and Mordington. 4 



The Dotterel is a bird of passage in Berwickshire, 

 generally arriving from its southern winter quarters in 

 Africa 5 between the second week of April and the middle 

 of May, and leaving the county for its northern haunts 6 

 towards the end of the latter month, a few being known 

 to nest in the Grampians and the English Lake District, 

 while the principal breeding quarters are in the north of 

 Europe. It has been occasionally observed in the county 

 during the month of September on its return journey to 

 the south. 



In former times it visited in great numbers the high- 

 lying grounds in the parishes of Abbey St. Bathans, Ayton, 

 Buncle, Cockburnspath, Coldingham, Cranshaws, Eaiiston, 

 Eyemouth, Foulden, Greenlaw, Lauder, Legerwood, Long- 

 formacus, Mordington, Nenthorn, and Westruther. It has 



1 The Statistical Account of Scotland, vol. xii. p. 57. 



2 Ibid. vol. xv. p. 182. 



3 The New Statistical Account of Scotland (Berwickshire), vol. ii. p. 300. 



4 Ibid. p. 340. 



5 Seebohm says it winters in Africa north of the Equator, and that Canon 

 Tristram saw numerous flocks during winter in the hill country of Southern 

 Palestine. British Birds, vol. iii. pp. 30-32. 



6 Seebohm states that its favourite breeding grounds in the British Islands are 

 in the wildest parts of Scotland on the lonely Grampians in North Perthshire, and 

 on the confines of Inverness-shire ; also that it has been found nesting in Ross-shire 

 and the Orkneys. British Birds, vol. iii. p. 30. 



