130 Poachers and Poach ing. 



circumstances, our English cuckoo may be so 

 likewise. 



The dotterel is one of the most interesting of 

 British birds. It is a summer visitant, and breeds 

 upon the tops of the highest mountains. It is 

 every year decreasing as a species in consequence 

 of the persistency with which it is hunted down 

 for its feathers ; these are used for dressing flies. 

 I have found it breeding upon Skiddaw, Sea 

 Fell, and Helvellyn, though not since the year 

 1884. Part of the interest which attaches to the 

 bird arises from the fact of its extremely local 

 distribution, the mountains named being perhaps 

 the only ones on which it is known to breed in 

 this country. Hewitson, the eminent ornitho- 



J * 



logist, spent five consecutive seasons in looking 

 for a dotterel's nest ; and it was upon Great 

 Robinson and the Hindsgarth range that he 

 ultimately found its eggs. The large price 

 offered for these has acted as a prize for the 

 dotterel's extermination by the shepherds ; and 

 some years ago a quarryman had a dog which 

 was trained to find the nests. Owing to the 

 great number of trout streams in the Lake 

 district, angling is general ; and, as has been 

 said, the dotterel's decrease is due entirely 

 to the great demand for skins. The birds are 

 mainly shot either on their spring or autumnal 

 migration, and at the former season the 

 grandfather of the present writer upon one 

 occasion bagged seventeen birds in a morning. 



