( 12 ) 
FIELD-NOTES ON THE NESTING OF THE 
DOTTEREL IN SCOTLAND. 
BY 
THE LATE CAPTAIN C. 8. MEARES. 
Abstracted and prepared for publication by Lizrut. D. H. MEAREs. 
Tue hills visited in mid-June were a chain of the Grampian 
Mountains some five miles in extent and varying from 2500 
to 3000 feet in height. This chain is divided into seven hills 
(hereinafter referred to as hills Nos. 1 to 7) and a spur to the 
north. They are conical in shape, and the broad tops and 
higher ridges below the summits are covered with a growth 
of lichens and bilberry. This is the home of the Dotterel 
(Charadrius morinellus). 
Snow was lying at the head of every gully, and in some 
places was 20 to 30 feet deep. The Dotterels were located 
rather lower down the mountains than usual, due to the 
severe snows earlier in the season. Weather conditions were 
unusually favourable, and the days were bright and warm 
with little wind. 
Hill No. 2 was first visited. No bird was seen in the first 
instance, but after we had spent afew hours walking round 
the mountain, a Dotterel was located at Jast within a few feet 
of its nest. The nest, which was soon found, was placed on a 
small hummock covered with crisp lichens and bilberry on 
the western slope about 70 feet below the summit. It con- 
tained a clutch of three eggs incubated about ten days. The 
nest was by no means a mere scratching, the lichens and 
bilberry forming the structure having evidently been placed 
there with care, and it was lined with dead _ bilberry 
leaves picked from a quite obvious hole at the side of the 
nest. The bird, after being watched for about five minutes 
from a distance of thirty yards, returned to its eggs, but was 
evidently very nervous, and left, running away so soon as a 
nearer approach to the nest was attempted. It never went 
. more than about thirty yards away from its nest, running 
up and down apparently feeding and gradually coming nearer 
and nearer until it regained the eggs. This procedure was 
repeated five or six times as we approached nearer to the 
nest, but the limit of the bird’s confidence was reached when 
we were within twelve yards. Only the one bird was seen. 
About three hundred yards further along the western 
slopes of this same hill, No. 2, another Dotterel ran off a nest 
about thirty yards ahead. This nest contained two eggs. 
