210 WITH NATURE AND A CAMERA. 



there was not the slig'litest sign of one of them. 

 Eventually, however, I discovered all three, and u])on 

 measuring, found that the one which had travelled 

 farthest away from the place where its mother 

 crouched had run six yards before clapping down 

 to hide. In order to show the wonderful way in 

 which these little creatures harmonise with tlieir 

 surroundings, and thus escape detection, I got my 

 brother to photograph one of them exactly where 

 it crouched, and then folding a black focussing cloth 

 up I placed it beneath the chick, and had another 

 study made. By this means, I think, we have suc- 

 ceeded in illustrating with some degree of clearness 

 the value of protective coloration, so far as the 

 limitations of black and white will allow. 



Young Curlews, Golden PloA'ers, Peewits, and 

 Sandpipers, all run about directly they leave the 

 shell ; indeed, sometimes actually before they have 

 accomplished their deliverance. I have on more 

 than one occasion seen a baby Peewit wandering 

 about with half of its prison house still attached 

 to its downy rump ; and if a hawk or other bird of 

 prey should ha})pen to appear overhead, they in- 

 stinctively clap flat upon the ground, and remain 

 motionless as stones until the danger has })assed. 

 In order to illustrate the benefits of keei)ing 

 absolutely still and trusting for safet}' to the pro- 

 tective coloration of its upper })arts, I sought 

 systematically for a young (\n-leAV last sumnier on 

 the Westmorland hills, and when I found it half 

 hidden in a tuft of withered grass, 1 got my brother 

 to make a photograph of it exactly where it lay, 

 and then another of the long-legged creature 

 standing on the muddy shores of a half-siltcd-uj) 

 cattle pond. As soon as the second })icture had 

 been taken, the 1)ird delibei-atclN' walked into the 



