BLACK-BREASTED SANDPIPER. 209 



that they have popularly obtained the name of Plovers' 

 Pages. Sometimes about the middle of April, but always 

 before that of May, they are seen dispersed over the moors in 

 pairs like the birds just named, which at this season they 

 greatly resemble in manners. From this period until the end 

 of August none are to be found along the shores of the sea, 

 instead of searching which, they now seek for insects and 

 worms, in the shallow pools, soft ground, and by the edges 

 of lakes and marshes. The male frequently flies up to a 

 person intruding upon his haunts, and sometimes endeavours 

 to entice him away by feigning lameness. 



The nest, which is composed of some bits of withered 

 grass or sedge, and small twigs of heath, is placed in a slight 

 hollow, generally on a bare spot, and usually in a dry place 

 like that selected by the Golden Plover. The eggs, always 

 four, are ovato-pyriform, an inch and four or five-twelfths in 

 length, eleven-twelfths or a little more in breadth, and have a 

 light greyish-green, or sometimes greenish-yellow, or brownish 

 ground, irregularly marked all over with spots and patches 

 of umber-brown and light purplish-grey, more numerous 

 toward the larger end, where they are often confluent. The 

 female sits very assiduously, often allowing a person to come 

 quite close to her before removing, which she does in a flut- 

 tering and cowering manner. 



The young, which are covered with close stifhsh down, 

 are variegated with yellowish-grey and dark brown, with the 

 bill dusky, and the feet yellowish-brown. Like those of the 

 Golden Plover and Lapwing, they leave the nest immediately 

 after exclusion from the egg, run about, and when alarmed, 

 conceal themselves by sitting close to the ground, and remain- 

 ing motionless. If at this period a person approaches their 

 retreat, the male especially, but frequently the female also, 

 flies up to meet the intruder, and uses the same artifices for 

 deceiving him as many other birds of this family. After they 

 are able to shift for themselves, the young remain several 

 weeks on the moors with their parents, both collecting into 

 small flocks, which are often intermigled with those of the 

 Golden Plover, and often in the evenings uniting into larger. 

 They rest at night on the smoother parts of the heath, and 



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