BIRDS OF THE RIVER 



Seen from the bridge, the river is fretted with 

 jutting rocks, but there are cahiier reaches beyond, 

 and the Avillow-grown island in mid-stream, where 

 the yellow gleam of primroses may be caught, 

 affords a constant resting-place for the eye. 



Below the island the water is fairly deep, but it 

 grows shallower as we ascend, and the quickened 

 tide of the two streams running on either side, gives 

 a succession of likely casts. 



Now a Sandpiper passes, flying low, and alights 

 with 'jerking tail and nodding head, upon a mossy 

 ledge of rock. It runs daintily, often stooping to 

 take some imperceptible fly from the water, and 

 at length flies, piping, to the shingle a few yards 

 away. 



It is a slim, snipe-like creature, silvery white 

 beneath, with back and wings delicately marbled 

 in greenish-brown and black. It never appears 

 to rest for more than a moment at a time, running 

 swiftly amidst the shingle, or suddenly making a 

 short excursion over the river, flying with quivering 

 cry close to the water, and usually turning again 

 and alighting at no great distance from its first 

 point of departure. 



At the edge of the shingle away from the stream 

 the low bank beneath the willows is covered with 



33S 



