40 BIRD-LIFE OF THE BORDERS. 



the tops of which, twined together, completelj' hide the nest 

 from view. There is merely a sort of tunnel leading 

 transversely through the tuft, which serves for entrance 

 and exit, and her long neck enables the sitting bird to 

 observe afar the approach of danger, on which she at 

 once slips silently away. Mere casual search is therefore 

 utterly useless ; it is necessary that the eye should instantly 

 detect the bird as she springs from her nest — no easy 

 matter at perhaps 100 or 200 yards' distance, and when 

 the air is filled with Peewits and other birds wheeling 

 about. Then, when one does succeed in detecting the 

 movement at the exact moment, there still remains the 

 difficulty of marking the precise spot on so bare and 

 featureless a place. 



On the Solway the Dunlins breed in similar situations — 

 barely above tide level — but their habits are different. 

 They build a slight nest, like a Skylark's, but there is 

 little attempt at concealment. They usually run from 

 their eggs on being disturbed, and as they have perhaps 

 gone several yards before being perceived, one is apt to 

 be deceived in not finding any nest at the spot where 

 the old birds, by their actions, lead one to expect it. 



The geographical distribution of several species belonging 

 to this class, during summer, is remarkably wide. In the 

 South, both the Redshank and the Peewit remain abundantly 

 to nest in the blazing heats of Southern Spain. In my 

 visits to that country (Andalucia), I have found the nests 

 of both in plenty, and at about the same dates as at home. 

 I even found on one occasion, a nest of the Dunlin with 

 four eggs on a dreary flat marsh on the lower Guadalquivir 

 — a place somewhat resembling in general aspect the marshes 

 of the Solway. Then, in the far North of Europe, my 

 brother Alfred found the Redshank breeding in Finmark 

 (lat. 70° N.), and both it and the Dunlin are included by 

 Wheelwright (Ornithology of Lapland, p. 5), among those 

 birds which breed within the " region of perpetual snow." 

 Their summer range is therefore pretty extensive, and 

 their tastes in the selection of a summer residence about as 

 diverse as can well be. 



