278 THE MOOR AND THE LOCH. 



suppose I need hardly hope you will remember me, Mr Pen- 

 nant ? " The blind man thought for a moment, and then called 

 out with sudden eagerness, " Ah ! my friend of the dotterel ! " 



The usual time of the dotterel's arrival in Scotland is from 

 the 9th to the 14th of May, and they remain about ten days 

 or a fortnight on their first ground before separating for the 

 higher breeding-places. The nest is most difficult to find, and 

 a dotterel's egg is therefore a great prize to the collector. 

 They come to this country in " trips " of from five or six to 

 a dozen, and pitch on undulating downs and hillocks near the 

 sea. Eough grass and heather have less attraction for this 

 bird than thin fallow fields. But the most favoured feeding- 

 ground of all is a newly broken up and sown down field of 

 old lea, where they seem to find the most abundant supply. 



We were about to leave Edinburgh for our country home, 

 when a note from Dunglass warned me that the dotterels had 

 appeared. This was on the 12th of May. On the 14th I 

 took the earliest train out, and was at Dunglass to breakfast. 

 Directly after, the head-keeper and two assistants were in 

 waiting ; and by every means in his power my kind host had 

 endeavoured to ensure success. 



We threaded the glorious woody ravine surrounding the 

 baronial halls of Dunglass, and I then started on a most 

 fascinating coast drive, with my old acquaintances the Bass 

 and the May in the distance, while the far view to the south 

 was bounded by the romantic outline of Fast Castle, whose 

 battlements could be dimly traced. At the side of the road 

 was the ruin of a church, since used, or rather abused, as the 

 grand emporium of a smuggling gang. Here many a Dirk 

 Hatteraick of the Forth had found a safe and secret refuge 

 for the contents of his lugger ; and if the mouldering walls 

 could speak, strange stories might they bring to light. Soon 

 after we drove over Pease Bridge, the highest arch per- 

 haps in Scotland. Looking down from it made one's head 

 swim round. 



