BIRDS 349 



always preferred to secure a temporary rest upon our fells and 

 salt marshes, before resuming their journey to such dreary 

 tundras of moss as those which Mr. A. C. Chapman found the 

 Dotterel occupying, in the neighbourhood of the Varanger 

 Fiord. 1 



No entries of Dotterel appear in the accounts of Lord 

 William Howard, nor does Machell allude to ' the mical 

 Dotterel ' more than incidentally, in enumerating the ' Fowle ' 

 of Westmorland. Mcolson and Burn state tersely : ' Orton 

 scar is famous for dotterels,' a well-grounded remark, since 

 many birds of this species have been killed there by living 

 witnesses. Clarke and Richardson maintain absolute silence 

 as to the Dotterel visiting their native mountains. Budworth, 

 who was only a visitor, seems to have been one of the very 

 first to describe a personal acquaintance with this Plover. This 

 writer tells us that when visiting Skiddaw 'we saw some 

 dotterels upon the summit, that let us approach within eight 

 yards : and, if I had not thrown a stone at them, I daresaye I 

 might have come near enough to have threwn " salt on their 

 tails." They suck their food from under the small stones, 

 under which they build their nests, and what is more remark- 

 able, have only frequented Skiddaw seven years. These birds 

 are fat and sweet-flavoured, have only thin claws, a long cylin- 

 drical bill, and are rather above the size of a thrush, though 

 coloured like one, excepting a black streak in the head. It is 

 with difficulty they can be forced to leave Skiddaw, and when 

 they do, they never rest long on other mountains. Hutton has 

 one in his repository, the recollection of which gives me an 

 opportunity of describing it/ To this a note is appended, ' The 

 dotterel builds and incubates upon the highest mountains in 

 this country, and early in the spring descends to the lower 

 craggy hills, especially in the vicinity of Orton and Asby, where 

 many of them are shot as well for their delicacy of taste as for 

 their feathers which are in high estimation with the anglers 



1 Until the Wild Birds Act was passed, it was a common practice for 

 parties of gunners to scour High Street and other mountains for Dotterel 

 on their first arrival in spring. No opportunity was ever neglected of 

 shooting as many as possible, their feathers being in brisk demand for 

 tying 'flies.' 



