CH. IV. RED-NECKED PHALAROPE. 59 



not have refrained from putting him carefully 

 down on the ground again : when I did so he ran 

 up to the top of a little grassy hillock, and looked 

 round for his screaming parents, who, at a safe 

 distance, were wheeling with a most wonderful 

 outcry round the head of my terrier. 



One cannot understand why a curlew's bill 

 should be curved in the curious manner in which 

 it is. The end of the bill is, like that of a wood- 

 cock, furnished with a set of delicate nerves to 

 enable it to feel its food under the ground. In 

 those parts of the country where curlews are num- 

 erous, the moist turnip fields are generally bored 

 all over by them. I tried for trout in Loch Naver 

 (close to the inn at Aultnaharrow), and caught 

 some fine and excellent fish for our supper. 



In the swampy ground near the west end of the 

 lake a vast number of birds seem to breed. Snipes, 

 curlews, redshanks, plovers, etc. etc., all keep up a 

 constant cry of alarm on any intrusion into their 

 dominion. While I was fishing Mr. Dunbar called 

 my attention to two beautiful little birds near the 

 edge of the water, which he pronounced to be the 

 red-necked phalarope. Not having any specimens 

 in his collection, he went to the inn for a gun, while 

 I sat down to watch them. The red-necked phala- 

 rope is certainly the most beautiful little wader of 



