The Oologists' Record, September 1, 1923. 67 



" thirt^^ yards behind, the Sandpiper stood and studied me con- 

 " temptuously ! She had been watching all the time. ' What a 

 " fool ! ' doubtless would have been her comment if she could 

 " have spoken. It is no use to try and gull the waders : up to a 

 " certain point I believe they can almost see you think ! 



" I retired abashed to another hiding-place about fifty yards 

 " further up the slope. The bird at once showed her appreciation 

 " of this move by flj'ing towards the spot where I had first seen her. 

 " She was so small that it was very difficult to mark her as she 

 " tripped between the tussocks. When I thought that she must 

 " be settled on her eggs, I jumped up quickly. She took wing' 

 " at once, but when I went to the place whence she had risen, 

 " there was no sign of the nest. This happened twice, but as she 

 " returned to the same spot each time, I knew that the treasure 

 " was there all right, and that patience would win it. The great 

 " difficulty in marking down nests on the tundra is the absence 

 " of all landmarks. You settle exactly in your own mind where the 

 " place is, and then note the position b\' means of some hillock 

 '' or grass tuft on the sky-line. This mark looks enormous through 

 " the field-glasses, and you think that it will be impossible to 

 " mistake it. When you look for it with the naked eye you are 

 " not quite so sure ; it may take a minute or two to pick it up 

 " again. Then you stand up, and away goes your bird — and your 

 " landmark likewise, faded from the sky-hne, back into the tvmdra. 

 " I marked the bird down by a dodge that I used when looking 

 " for Gre\^ Plovers' eggs under similar circumstances, and which is 

 '' described elsewhere ; but each time that I flushed her, she seemed 

 " to jump up from a different place. She was so little and so 

 " nimble that she could run over the moss for some yards before 

 " she was seen. The next time I gave her ample time to settle 

 " down, and lay still in the wet, sucking lumps of sugar until I 

 " nearly fell asleep. Then all at once a Buffon's Skua came over- 

 '' head, flying low in the squally wind. I snatched my gun and 

 " shot him as he flew by, and as he feU I saw the Sandpiper spring 

 " up from a spot where I had marked her once before. I left the 

 " Skua and ran up to the place. The bird began to call again, 

 " and drooped a wing to decoy me away. Half a minute's search 

 " and there was the nest at my feet. It exactly answered to 

 " Mr. Popham's description — a little depression in the moss, of 

 " an apple's diameter, and deeper than the nests of most of the 



