PLATE I 

 DUNLIN. Tringa alpina 



May 20th, 1895. I paid a visit to a low-lying grassy island in one of the 

 lochs in Central Scotland, to obtain some photographs of the nests of the 

 Tufted Duck. The whole island was simply swarming with Dunlin, but the 

 nests were terribly difficult to find ; and although the birds were running about 

 the grass at my feet, I searched for more than half an hour before I came 

 across my first nest. It was most artfully hidden in the centre of a tuft of 

 grass, which hung down all round the nest, concealing the eggs most effectually. 

 In another part of the island, where the grass was shorter, I found several 

 nests, two of which I photographed. In the Plate will be seen a little ball of 

 earth to the left of the nest ; the whole place was covered with these little 

 detached lumps, but how they came there quite baffled us, as the grass grew 

 as thick as a carpet everywhere, and there were no broken edges of soil 

 anywhere near besides, it was quite eight feet above the highest level of the 

 loch. Although the date was late, nearly all the eggs were quite fresh, and 

 many nests had only two or three eggs in them. 



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