THE BIRD AND THE TREE 



brooke in a letter to the " Field " in November, 

 1921, wrote that when shooting near Saxmund- 

 ham, he saw a covey of partridges get up from the 

 top of a tree. The tree was standing by itself 

 in a park, and the birds came from the branches at 

 the top some 40 feet high. The editor remarked 

 that only one or two cases of the kind had been 

 placed on record. 



Birds of the wader tribe cannot be deemed 

 arboreal, but here again exceptions occur. The 

 common sandpiper frequently alights on posts 

 and railings, and will occasionally take to the 

 exposed branch of a tree. On many occasions, 

 especially in Norway, we have seen redshanks 

 alight on the summits of trees, and remain there 

 piping disconsolately until we withdrew from the 

 scene. In the case of these the young birds were 

 hidden in the vicinity, and the parents plainly 

 seized upon any point of vantage, however in- 

 convenient, in order to watch our movements. 



It may also be said the redshank appeared to 

 squat on the massed foliage rather than to grasp 

 firmly any individual branch. The only case of 

 a snipe alighting that has come under our own 

 notice was when a bird drooped down on the 

 broad, feathery plume of a fir tree, and balanced 

 itself awkwardly with its wings, soon to take 

 flight from a position that it plainly found em- 

 barrassing. Mr. Boyes of Beverley, however, 

 records a much more striking instance. In the 

 " Field" (July 1915) he writes: — 



" I have on several occasions recently had the 

 pleasure of seeing and hearing snipe drumming 

 over a marshy spot not far from Beverley, and I 

 have seen five drumming at the same time, near 

 to each other, and each one uttering its breeding 

 notes. On every visit I have noticed a snipe 

 after drumming alight on the dead branch of a 



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