156 THE BIRDS OF CUMBERLAND. 



the little wader ; away he ' glode/ chanting his love 

 song up the waters until it died away in the distance. 

 A moment after, the Pied Flycatchers darted across 

 Eden, and disappeared in the dense foliage of the 

 further bank." 



In autumn, the Common Sandpiper haunts the 

 creeks of our salt marshes in trios and quartettes, 

 departing in September, though an example was 

 shot in October, 1884, on the Eden. 



The young of the Common Sandpiper are clever 

 in hiding under tussocks, and if captured, answer 

 the adults with a low piping cry, almost identical 

 with that of the adult. 



A downy bird, captured on Bassenthwaite lake 

 on June 13th, and about one day old, is grey in 

 ground-colour, mixed with black ; from the base of 

 the mandibles, a dark stripe extends backwards, 

 converging behind the eye to meet a dark medial 

 band, which runs from a point just above the upper 

 mandible to the nape. The chin, breast, and lower 

 parts are white. The down of the tail is very long 

 and fine. Our friend, Mr. E. Bidwell, first drew our 

 attention to the fact that the legs of the chick of the 

 Common Sandpiper are not simply " pale green," as 

 stated by Yarrell, in life, but are mottled with black, 

 which fades after death. In the living chick above 

 described, the legs were a pale greenish-grej^, the 

 frontal portion of the tarsi being adorned with 

 a single black streak, and the toes also mottled 

 with black. Yarrell figured the Common Sand- 

 piper in down from a specimen sent to him by 

 T. C. Heysham. 



