THE SANDPIPER 281 



brood one cloudless morning of June when the burn 

 beside her nest was running low and clear, and at once 

 became the most anxious, agitated mother when I ap- 

 proached the spot where the chicks were lying concealed. 

 Both she and the cock bird hovered near with shrill whist- 

 lings, endeavouring to decoy me from the neighbourhood, 

 and arousing alarm amongst all the bird world in the 

 neighbourhood. 



One rarely finds Sandpipers' eggs before the middle 

 of May, nor after the third week in June, for the birds 

 are regular in their nesting. There is reason to suppose 

 that they pair for life, for every spring they return to the 

 same part of a river or glen. In one instance a Sandpiper 

 was found nesting in exactly the same spot for seven 

 years. When disturbed the hen Sandpiper usually runs 

 for some little distance from her nest before taking wing, 

 and, if she has been brooding for some time, gives utter- 

 ance to a long-drawn plaintive whistle, uttered in a very 

 high key, as she stands on some stone watching anxiously 

 the intruder at her nesting site. 



The exact vertical range of the Sandpiper in the High- 

 lands is doubtful. On the lochs of the Cairngorm hills 

 it is absent, though there are several such lochs situated 

 at, or just over, the 3000 feet line, where one might expect 

 to meet with it. On the Dee it is found nesting as far as 

 the lower end of the Garbhchoire, a little over 2000 feet. 

 Mr. Harvie Brown places it on record that he has in two 

 successive seasons noticed a pair on Ben Chaorin, 2700 feet 

 above the level of the sea, and I have sometimes seen the 

 birds only a few hundred feet lower. Unlike the Dunlin, it 

 does not care for peaty lochans, but prefers clear lochs with 

 dry ground surrounding them, or rushing hill-burns, for, 

 in contrast to the Dunlin, its food consists almost entirely 

 of insects. On still days of June, and more especially 

 towards the evening, one sees many Sandpipers moving 



