THE DOTTEREL. 255 



years previously, the Rev. Thomas Somerville, of Jedburgh, 

 recorded that " Dotterel abounded in the south and hilly parts of 

 the parish." In 1794, Mr John Renton, of Chesterbank, who 

 wrote the statistical account of the parish of Coldingham, in 

 Berwickshire, mentions that " Dotterel appear in vast numbers on 

 the heights." About the same period, the Rev. Mr Stewart, of 

 Luss, in Dumbartonshire, in one of the most scientific lists that 

 these voluminous records contain, also writes of the Dotterel, and 

 distinguishes it by a Gaelic name, showing his acquaintance with 

 the species. Various other writers in East Lothian, Fife, Kincar- 

 dine, Perth, and Aberdeenshires, likewise refer to the migratory 

 movements of this bird, and all these records tend to show that it 

 had then been sufficiently common to attract attention. At the 

 present day, however, though the Dotterel may be said to be still 

 regular in its visits to some of the localities just named, it is 

 absolutely necessary for observers to be careful in watching for its 

 appearance. In some parts of Berwickshire, for example, the 

 flocks, besides being much reduced in numbers, never remain longer 

 than three days in their old haunts, which in the early part of the 

 present century they frequented during as many weeks. Indeed, 

 in other parts of the same county it would almost seem to have 

 discontinued its short visits. The Earl of Haddington informs me 

 that it "was formerly very common in Berwickshire; and on Boon 

 Hill, near Lauder, large flocks were to be seen at certain seasons. 

 It is now, however, rarely, if ever, seen in this county." From 

 recent investigations, I am disposed to think that a similar scarcity 

 has been observed for some years past in East Lothian, where, it 

 is to be feared, only a few stragglers now occur. Mr Harvie 

 Brown has sent me word that a specimen was shot on Gullane 

 Links in that county in the first week of May, 1869, and sent to 

 Mr Small, of Edinburgh, for preservation. This bird, which was 

 a female, contained ova the size of grains of barley. The same 

 correspondent, in a paper communicated in January, 1871, to the 

 Natural History Society of Glasgow on the "Birds found breeding 

 on Sutherlandshire," has the following remarks: "Mr St. John 

 mentions the Dotterel as breeding on Ben Clybric,* but by no 

 means numerously. There are specimens in the Dunrobin 



* Ben Clybric, the highest mountain in Sutherlandshire on the skirts of the 

 parishes of Lairg and Farr. It is of a conical form, and is about 3,200 feet in 

 height. 



