20 WILD-FOWL AND SEA-FOWL OF GREAT BRITAIN 



seen ; for they ran a few yards ahead of me like 

 barn-door fowls, before they attempted to rise again. 

 This is a gentle, bright-eyed creature, like the 

 Dunlin that nests close to it on the moors. So 

 closely does the Dunlin follow the Golden Plover 

 that it has been called the " Plover's Page." Its 

 well-known cry is in perfect harmony with the bird's 

 surroundings ; and indeed, in wild life sights and 

 sounds do go together. From the nature of the 

 bird's nesting stations, it is not likely to suffer from 

 any enemies except Hooded Crows and Gulls ; but 

 these are bad enough. 



The female of the Dotterel is larger and more 

 handsome than the male. The latter takes the chief 

 share in incubation, and looks after the young when 

 hatched. This is exceptional, but it is not a solitary 

 case. I remember that when some Stone Curlews 

 were required for scientific purposes some years ago, 

 a boy who knew the birds and their haunts well 

 snared some on their eggs in the day-time, and they 

 were all cock-birds. 



The nest of the Dotterel is a mere hollow. The 

 eggs, three as a rule in number, are very handsome, 

 ranging from buff olive to buff in ground-colour, 

 spotted and blotched and slightly sprinkled with 

 grey. The same places that the Ptarmigan nest in 

 suit the Dotterel. 



These birds used to breed in the Lake district 

 years ago, and before me is a list of their stations. 

 I shall only mention two of these, Helvellyn, 3055, 

 and Skiddaw, 3022 feet above the sea-level. 



