cHap.xut.] Zhe Pursuit Defeated. 237 
specimen, and, fearing: lest I should lose it altogether, I de-. 
termined to put a stop to the wild-goose chase. Having 
put my gun in readiness, I proceeded in the direction in 
which the bird fell. But it did not rise. I searched all 
round, but there was no bird! I met my friend, and in- 
quired if he had fired at a ring-dotterel. No; he had only 
shot at a tern. ‘But, by-the-bye,’ he added, ‘I found a 
nest and the young of that bird as I came along.’ 
“In a few minutes we stood beside the young ones. 
The spot I found to be only about three yards in advance 
of where my attention was first attracted to the apparently 
wounded bird. Having collected the little downy things, 
and placed them in a hollow among the sand, we again took 
our departure. In doing so, what should we meet but my 
old friend the dotterel, which again commenced its former 
pranks! But, no! It was too late; the truth had oozed 
out. The bird had completely deceived me, and my friend 
laughed heartily at my mistake.” 
During one of Edward’s visits to Crimond Manse, to 
which some gentlemen of the neighborhood had been in- 
vited to meet him, Mr. Boyd, after dinner, when the ladies 
had left the room, expressed his surprise that something 
had not been done to enable Edward to obtain more time 
to pursue his researches in natural history. The gentlemen 
present cordially agreed with him. Mr. Boyd then pro- 
posed to insert a notice in the Fraserburgh Advertiser, and 
to circulate it extensively in the neighborhood. The fol- 
lowing forms part of the article : 
“ During the past month our district has been visited by 
Mr. Edward, from Banff, a naturalist of no mean attain- 
ments, and one who, we doubt not, will soon bring himself 
into public notice, both by his indefatigable researches into 
natural science, and his valuable contributions to various 
scientific periodicals..... While there are few branches of 
natural history in which he does not take an interest, it 
is in ornithology that he shines most conspicuously, and in 
