BIRDS 353 



cured in the vicinity of Carlisle, and the only one I have yet 

 received was sent to me from Yorkshire.' William Camm of 

 Keswick wrote to Heysham on May 27, 1834 : 'I forward five 

 remarkable fine Dotterel for you (one of which is alive at start- 

 ing). They are very scarce this season, and in consequence 

 have been very difficult to obtain. I got them yesterday on a 

 very high mountain (called Great Gavel) situate between 

 Borrowdale and Wastdale, about 11 miles from Keswick. . . . 

 With regard to eggs, unless some of those old birds contain 

 some, I have not been able to procure any.' In the following 

 year (1835) Camm wrote on the 9th of June : ' Sir, — I send you 

 thees lines to let you know that there is Dotrels now if you 

 have the noaton of coming up to Keswick and I will go with 

 you when its suits you.' Heysham in return enjoined on his 

 agent to visit all the * smittle ' [likely] places for the Plovers, in 

 order to ascertain whether any pairs had really taken up their 

 quarters with a view of breeding. Camm replied on the 26th 

 of June : ' The eggs of the Dotterel will be difficult to procure, 

 as there is a great scarcity of birds this season.' He adds : ' There 

 shall be no want of exursion on our part to get them.' Two days 

 later, or perhaps on receipt of this note, Heysham despatched 

 James Cooper to Whiteside, upon which mountain he found a 

 clutch of three eggs on the 29th of June. On the 3d of July 

 Heysham accompanied Cooper to Robinson, and obtained a 

 clutch of two eggs, as well as a young bird, on the 5 th of that 

 month. Heysham sent on loan specimens of the Dotterel, old 

 and young, as well as an egg, to Yarrell, who acknowledged 

 their safe receipt in a letter dated December 19, 1835: 'The 

 Dottrells old and young are perfect beauties, and when looking 

 at them I could not but feel some regret that you had allowed 

 them the risk of so long a journey. The sight of the egg, too, 

 was very gratifying, confirming as it did that my two from the 

 Grampian Hills are without doubt the eggs of the Dottrell. . . . 

 Having shot part of every season for the last twenty years in 

 the parishes of Eoyston, Melbourne, and others in the vicinity 

 where the Dottrell always make their appearance twice a year, 

 I have in the autumn both seen and shot more Dottrell than 

 many of those who attend to Natural History here in the south; 



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