Wanderings of a Naturalist 



the dotterel he returned without suspicion, and settled down 

 confidently on the nest. He seemed, however, to find the 

 task of hatching out his wife's eggs a dull and wearisome 

 business, and went ofif to feed no fewer than four times during 

 the three hours we had him under observation. On these 

 excursions he was away about twenty minutes at a time, but 

 on the last occasion he had already been absent from his 

 eggs a full half-hour when we — the light having become too 

 poor for photography — left the plateau for the day. Next 

 morning brought mist and rain to the hill-tops, but towards 

 evening the weather cleared, and the following day saw us 

 once again at the 4,000-feet level. The nest was reached at 

 9.45 a.m. (G.M.T.), but the bird was off feeding and tlie 

 eggs none too warm. The chicks, however, could now be 

 heard tapping vigorously on the walls of their prisons, and 

 a few minutes later Mr. Dotterel returned from his leisured 

 meal, running rapidly over the ground and ignoring the 

 hiding-tent, which we had just erected eight feet from the 

 nest. Even when we both sat inside the hide talking to each 

 other in ordinary tones our presence was unnoticed. The 

 attitude of this obligingly confiding bird seemed, indeed, to 

 be, "Out of sight, out of mind," for he took not the slightest 

 notice of our conversation, and several times dozed on his 

 eggs, as one of the photographs which illustrates this chapter 

 shows. 



Once he stood up in the nest and pecked hard at a chip- 

 ping e,gg, apparently removing a small piece of the shell. 

 He permitted my companion to approach to within twelve 

 inches of him and then ran off, holding up one wing as 

 though wounded. Once when shamming injury he shrieked 

 aloud, but soon forgot his anxiety and began to feed uncon- 

 cernedly only a few yards away, returning to the nest within 

 ten minutes and at once falling asleep* 



From 9.45 a.m. till 12.15 p.m. he twice went off to feed. 

 The first time he left the nest was at 10.50 a.m., but he was 

 absent only about five minutes. At 11. 17 he again became 



no 



