280 ON SURREY HILLS. 



air, far above human sight, at full migrating speed, 

 we can form no opinion. They know their own path, 

 and their time to follow it ; but " the way of a bird 

 in the air " has long been a mystery, and .to a great 

 extent remains so. 



The golden plover nests in this country, in the 

 northern parts of England and Scotland especially. 

 It is a far commoner bird than the grey plover, and 

 it is the former species that supplies the game-shops 

 with a dainty luxury. 



The last member of the plover family that I would 

 mention in this slight sketch of some of their number 

 is the innocent ring dotterel or dotterel plover. He 

 is associated with my earliest recollections, and, as I 

 write, a long shining stretch of sands comes before 

 me, bordered by sand-hills or dunes, sprinkled over 

 with bents and thistles. A blue cloudless sky is 

 overhead, and nothing breaks the monotony of the 

 level flat except the rotten ribs of some ill-fated 

 vessel, which stick up, worm-eaten and festooned 

 with barnacles ; and no living thing is to be seen 

 except a motionless boy watching the dotterels that 

 ran and piped about quite near to him. 



Without waders the shores and flats would be dead 



