(_For the Every-Day Book._)
In May and June this bird is to be found on Gogmagog-hills and the moors
adjacent. It is caught with nets, by people using a whistle made to
imitate its note; the bird is so simple and fond of imitation, it
suffers itself to be approached, and the net dropped over it. There is
a tradition current here, that king James I. was very fond of seeing
dotterels taken; and when he came to Newmarket, used to accompany the
birdcatchers to the Gogmagog-hills and moors, for that purpose. It is
said, a needy clergyman residing in the parish of Sawston, who was very
expert in dotterel-catching, attended the king; his majesty was pleased
with his skill, and promised him a living: the clergyman waited some
years, till, concluding that the king “had remembered to forget his
promise,” he went to London and appeared at court, where too he was
unnoticed and forgotten; at length, approaching the king, and making the
same signs as he was wont to do when catching dotterels with the king
near Cambridge, his majesty exclaimed, “Why, here is my reverend
dotterel-catcher,” and instantly gave him the long-delayed living:--
The boggy moor a fruitful field appears,
Since the _inclosure_ of those latter years;
Though oft a victim to the fowler’s snare,
The dotterel keeps her wonted vigils there!
Ah! simple bird to imitate false man,
Who does by stratagem thy life trepan!
So by the world is man oft led astray,
Nor strives to shun the siren’s ’witching lay;
But knows, alas! like thee, when ’tis too late,
The want of caution, and repents his fate.
In sad reality--too often seen,
Does folly end in sorrow’s tragic scene.
_Cambridge_, _May_ 18, 1825.