DOTTEREL 335 



probably on their way to breeding-grounds outside the British Isles, 

 as by that time most of our home birds are settled down ; and although 

 egg laying does not become general until June, yet eggs have been 

 found, though exceptionally, from about May 33rd. The number of 

 birds that now nest on the Cumberland hills and other parts of the 

 Lake District is undoubtedly very small, but in Scotland there may be 

 more than is generally supposed. The nesting-places are seldom at a 

 less altitude than a thousand feet, and generally considerably more, 

 varying from 2000 to 4000 feet. Heysham, whose account of their 

 nesting-habits on the Cumberland hills, which first appeared in the 

 Magazine of Natural History, ii. p. 295, and has been quoted in most of 

 the histories of British birds published since, stated that " the most 

 favourite breeding-haunts of these birds are always near to or on the 

 summit of the highest mountains, particularly those that are densely 

 covered with the woolly fringe-moss, Trichostomum lanuginosum." The 

 Rev. H. A. Macpherson, however, says they do not select the summits 

 of the highest mountains, nor do they lay where the fringe-moss grows, 

 but upon short dense grass a little below the summit. 1 The latter 

 agrees with the observations of others who have visited the nesting- 

 places of the dotterel in Scotland. The majority breed on barren 

 slopes and plateaus just below the summits of the mountains. 



Although Heysham's observations were made as long ago as 1833 

 to 1835, very little in the way of fresh information on the habits 

 of the species has been added since. Observation is naturally 

 attended with considerable difficulty, owing to the remoteness of its 

 nesting-places, and even if these are visited, the scarcity of the 

 species renders it a matter of uncertainty as to whether the birds 

 will be met with. 



Nothing appears to have been recorded relating to the period of 

 courtship, or as to whether the birds have paired before their arrival on 

 the nesting-grounds. The nest is a very slight cavity in the ground, 

 and is very scantily lined. It has been stated that the nest contains 



1 Birds of Cumberland, p. 133. 



