GREY PLOVER. 49 



perseverance in searching^ and had afterwards watched the female to 

 the nest and shot her. We now decided to watch her to the nest in 

 the first instance, and, having by this means found it, to secure her 

 afterwards as a further and more complete identification of the eggs. It 

 w'as also perfectly obvious that the extreme care w^e had taken not to 

 alarm the bird was unnecessary. Our little manoeuvre of walking away 

 from the nest in a body, leaving one behind lying flat on the ground to 

 watch, under the impression that the bird could not count beyond three, 

 and wovdd think that we had all gone, was clearly so much artifice wasted. 

 The birds were evidently determined to come back to their nests in spite 

 of our presence ; nor was there any cover to hide us if the contrary had 

 been the case. Our care not to handle the eggs until we had secured the 

 bird was also unnecessary, as we often proved afterwards. On a marshy 

 piece of ground I shot a Reeve ; and then we struck across a very likely 

 piece of land, little flat pieces of bog with mossy ridges between. 



Presently Harvie-Brown, who was in front, whistled, and as I was coming 

 up to him I saAv a Grey Plover on my left. He called out to me that he had 

 put up a pair near where he was standing. I soon caught sight of another 

 bird on the ground, lifting its wings as if to attract me from its nest. It 

 then quietly ran ofi*; and I went to the spot — but finding nothing, lay 

 down to watch. Harvie-Brown did the same about eighty yards ofl'. It 

 was not long before I caught sight of both birds at some distance. One, 

 which I at once concluded must be the male, remained in the same spot; 

 the other was running towards me, stopping on some elevation every few 

 yards to look round. By-and-by it flew between Harvie-Brown and me, 

 and alighted on the other side of me. The other bird soon followed, and 

 remained as before, apparently watching the movements of the restless 

 bird, which I now felt sure must be the female. To this latter bird I now 

 confined my attention, and kept it within the field of my telescope for 

 more than half an hour. It was never still lor more than a minute 

 together; it kept running along the ground for a few yards, then 

 ascending one of the ridges, looking round and uttering its somewhat 

 melancholy cry. It crossed and recrossed the same ridges over and over 

 again, and finally disappeared behind a knoll about forty yards ahead of me, 

 and was silent. I carefully adjusted my telescope on a hillock to bear 

 upon the place in case I lost it, and was just making up my mind to walk 

 to the spot when I again heard its cry and saw it running as before. 

 The male was still in statu quo. The crossing and recrossing the ridge 

 upon which my telescope was pointed continued for another quarter 

 of an hour, and at last the bird disappeared behind the same ridge as 

 before. I gave her a quarter of an hour^s grace, during which she was 

 perfectly silent, and then sat up to see if Harvie-Brown was satisfied that 

 she was on the nest. His point of view was not so favourable as mine ; 



VOL. m. K 



