" The nest is a slight natural hollow." 



THE DOTTEREL 



I 



T is a curious reflection that 

 the brown trout should 

 have innocently exercised 

 such a baleful influence 

 over the chances of this 

 rare and interesting bird 

 propagating its species in 

 England. Until a few 

 decades ago the Dotterel nested regu* 

 larly on several mountain tops in Cum- 

 berland, Westmorland, nnd Yorkshire, 

 but, owing to the unfortunate fact that 

 some of its feathers make excellent arti- 

 ficial trout-flies, it was persistently shot 

 for the sake of these, and finally banished. 

 Solitary pairs still try to re-establish 

 themselves in the ancient strongholds 

 of their species, but alas ! in vain for 

 the ubiquitous egg collector, who always 

 argues that a rival may come that way 

 and take what his conscience tells him 

 for pity's sake to spare, sees to it that 

 the luckless bird shall have no quarter. 

 In order to secure the photographs 

 illustrating this article I journeyed to a 

 Scottish mountain top, which in the 



interests of the bird had better remain 

 nameless, and there, at an elevation of 

 something like 3,000 feet above sea 

 level, I enjoyed an excellent opportunity 

 of studying the Dotterel at home. Its 

 summer haunts are amidst the quiet 

 solitudes of the lonely mountain tops 

 where the silence is only broken by the 

 distant croak of a raven, and hardly 

 another bird saving the melancholy 

 ptarmigan is to be seen. 



The nest is a slight, natural hollow 

 amongst woolly-fringe lichen, and the 

 stunted vegetation common to the 

 general barrenness of considerable ele- 

 vations. It is said that the Dotterel's 

 nest, as a rule, is without any kind of 

 lining, but (he one figured contained a 

 few bits of lichen and dead grass that 

 had evidently been gathered for the 

 purpose. 



This species presents no difficulties 

 whatsoever to the naturalist -photo- 

 grapher, for after an acquaintance of 

 two days with the male of the pair I 

 studied, he became so confident in the 



