NOTES AND QUERIES. 343 



plentiful, what matter ? It also destroys numbers of moles, mice, voles, and 

 rats, and on this account should be especially protected by the farmers. 

 The habit of the Buzzard is to sit upon some horizontal limb of a tree 

 watching for prey. Its quick eye detects the slightest movement of any 

 small animal beneath it, and as soon as the latter is fairly visible, the bird 

 glides off its perch and drops quickly upon it. — Ed.] 



Habits of the Herring Gull. — It may interest your correspondent, 

 Mr. W. W. Flemyng, to know that I can confirm his observation (p. 308). 

 I also have found caudle-ends on the Sovereign Rocks, near Kinsale, which 

 had evidently been swallowed by the Herring Gulls nesting there, and 

 been cast up by them. No doubt Mr. Delap's explanation is the correct 

 one. — H. L. Popham (21, Ryder Street, St. James's). 



Nesting of the Dotterel in Lakeland. — During a recent visit to the 

 Lake District, 1 made inquiries about the Dotterel, Eudromias morinellus. 

 Shepherds and anglers could mention former haunts, and tell of the value 

 set upon this bird by makers of trout-flies ; but the impression seemed to be 

 that few or none remain to breed at the present day. After some search I 

 met with a solitary bird of this species, on July 19th, upon the bare sum- 

 mit of one of the mountains, at a height of about 2740 ft. above sea-level. 

 It rose with a weak note, somewhat like that of the Ringed Plover, 

 jEgialitis hiaticula. I found its mate near the same spot, which they were 

 unwilling to leave, one or other of the birds being almost always iu sight. 

 The ground was covered with sub-alpine mosses, dark in colour, and woolly 

 in texture, with here and there a patch of reddish shade. The hen bird, 

 which seemed most interested in my movements, watched me from a dis- 

 tance of about twenty paces, or took rapid runs of a few yards, stopping 

 now and then to pick up some insect or other food. When running, the 

 neck was drawn in, and head not higher than its shoulders. It was per- 

 fectly silent, and harmonised well in colour with the stones. I noticed an 

 occasional jerking movement of the head, which may have given rise 

 to the old idea of the Dotterel imitating the movements of the fowler. 

 After watching for half an hour, in a bitterly cold wind, I formed some 

 idea of the whereabouts of the nest. As I drew nearer, the bird shuffled 

 along the ground, squeaking like a rabbit; her white-tipped tail was 

 spread to a perfect fan, wings a little raised, and shivering. It was 

 not until I had watched for some time longer that I at length found 

 two eggs in a slight hollow in the moss. There was no nesting material 

 of any kind. Next day, on visiting the place, I found the bird sitting. 

 After watching her from a distance of four paces, I slowly lessened the 

 distance, and finally stooped and touched her before she slipped off the 

 nest. I thought this tameness of the sitting bird the more noteworthy, 

 as the eggs were not more thau half incubated. I came across a second 



