AUGUST 171 



time to pick up an insect. Sometimes we notice a 

 backward jerk of the head, and recollect the old idea 

 of the dotterel imitating the movements of the 

 fowler. It was a red-letter day when, after watching 

 the birds till we were stiff and chilled to the marrow, 

 we found the two eggs in a slight hollow of the moss, 

 for nest there was none. One of the birds in its 

 anxiety threw itself on the ground, its wings a little 

 raised and shivering, its white-tipped tail spread to a 

 perfect fan, — the whole attitude much like that of a 

 partridge covering young, or still more that of a night- 

 jar feigning wounded. On a subsequent occasion this 

 bird allowed us to stoop and touch it before it left 

 the nest. Strange that in the case of the dotterel, 

 as in that of some of the other waders, it is the male 

 bird which takes the chief share in incubation, being, 

 in accordance with this but in striking contrast to the 

 general rule, somewhat smaller and duller-coloured 

 than his mate. " The hen is the finer bird " as our 

 old shepherd concisely puts it. 



Now to leave the wind-swept summit for the deep 

 hollows, carved in the mountain's flank, where birch 

 and stunted oak cling to the face of the crags. Here 

 we shall have as music the Buzzard's wild and 

 melancholy cry, and may see the big hawk floating 

 lazily on upraised wings or mounting in a great spiral 

 till it becomes a mere speck in the blue. Usually 

 considered a timid or cowardly bird, we are prepared 



