MOORLAND BIRDS 



65 



bays of the stream in the level hollows where the old sheep- 

 folds are often found are the highest nesting- places of the 

 sandpipers. A May flood tearing down from the peat-hags 

 will often wash away the four or five biscuit-coloured eggs 

 laid on the gravel below high-water mark ; and all through 

 the month, and into June, first the cock bird will flit from 

 spit to spit with shivering flight and shrill anxious chatter, 

 while presently the hen will appear as if from nowhere and 

 join him in tremulous alarm. Like most birds that nest in 





COMMON SANDPIPER 



the open, sandpipers are very cunning in leaving the nest ; 

 and since the colour of the back and closed wings is very 

 like that of the grey-green pebbles of most hill streams, it is 

 easy for the sitting bird to run invisibly for some distance, 

 and then attract attention to a safe and unobjectionable 

 quarter by a sudden display in flight of the white feathers of 

 the wings and tail. 



Lapwings and curlews are both well practised at the 

 game of pretending that the nest is where it is not, or at any 

 rate that it is not where it is ; and hours of interest may be 

 spent in the attempt to outwit them by the resources of scout- 

 craft. The first requisite is a knowledge of the kind of 



(1.982) q 



