Wanderings of a NaUtralist 



tapping of a young bird. But tlie ^gg was unresponsive, 

 and so he each time hurried back to his two chicks, and, 

 after a while, gave up this brooding as an unprofitable busi- 

 ness, and returned to the ^gg no more. An interesting point 

 was that, although he fed a good deal himself he never made 

 any attempt to feed his young, nor to instruct them liow to 

 feed. The chicks, nevertheless, actively picked up minute 

 objects, and one swallowed or tried to swallow a blade of 

 grass as long as itself. 



An interesting discovery which we made, and which I 

 have never seen chronicled before, was that the young 

 dotterel leave the nest, run actively, and even feed — or at 

 all events pick up things — before their eyes are open ! 

 Indeed one of the chicks which we examined in the afternoon 

 had even then, after several hours of wandering, its eyes still 

 almost closed. We had noticed before that they seemed to 

 be uncertain on their feet, frequently falling over, and 

 stumbling against stones, but considering that their eyes at 

 this time were still closed their movements were nothing short 

 of marvellous. 



The fine weather was of brief duration. About two 

 o'clock the sun was obscured, and grey clouds drifted in ever- 

 increasing masses across the plateau from the south-west. 



One by one, the big hills to the westward were blotted 

 out, and the wind blew chill from out the advancing mists. 



The dotterel called his two chicks to him, for they were 

 feeling the cold — curiously enough, the hen had never once 

 put in an appearance even on this auspicious occasion when 

 her family first saw the light — and made a charming picture 

 as he brooded them in the shelter of a tiny tuft of green grass, 

 a plant of cushion pink with rich red flowers blooming 

 profusely only a few feet from him. 



And so we left him, wishing him well with his family 

 cares in that wild snow-splashed country of the high hills and 

 dark lochans, where is the home of the mists and of the four 

 winds, and where the foot of man but rarely treads. 



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