CH. IV. RED-NECKED PHALAROPE. 59 



frained 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 ciu-ved in the curious manner in which it is. 

 The end of the bill is, like that of a woodcock, 

 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 numerous, 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 excel- 

 lent 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, &c. &c., all keep up a 

 constant cry of alarm on any intrusion into their 

 dominion. AVhile 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 



