64 AY BIRD COLEECTORS ME DIER W. 
Waders if only because it is a certain proof that we are not pursuing the 
“inevitable” Dunlin. 
So much for the attractions of the white rump. We were destined to 
see other Green Sandpipers before we left the drain. As we stood gazing 
at the departed bird, his cries were answered by a like note from behind, 
and we glanced round in time to discover that a second bird had lain perdu 
at the preceding bend, and had now risen to rejoin its mate. To make 
matters worse, a shot, fired hurriedly and without effect, put up a small family 
party which was  breakfasting one hundred yards ahead, and we had the 
additional satisfaction of seeing the whole flock assemble, and after circling 
round once or twice, far out of range, make straight off for the harbour, or 
some still more distant retreat. We now planned a drive on the chance of 
the drain holding some more birds. Making a detour of more than half 
a mile, I posted myself beside the entrance of the sluice into the estuary, 
and waited while my brother proceeded to follow the course of the stream. 
All went well at first. From my place of concealment I saw him put up two 
or three Sandpipers, which came shrieking along straight for my ambuscade. 
But, alas! Fate was once more against us, anda single bird rising inoppor- 
tunely from a ditch at right angles to the drain, and catching sight of me 
as it flew towards the estuary, uttered the now well-known warning cry, and 
in a moment my approaching victims had grasped the situation and swerved 
off rapidly to right and left. 
Thus the drive, too, had proved a failure, and nothing remained but 
to wait for some hours in the harbour until the birds had had time to return. 
However, the collecting mania is not easily damped. We decided to wait, 
and, returning late in the afternoon, at length secured a specimen after an 
arduous stalk. We did this by making short semicircles, and then crawling 
straight towards the likely spots. To follow the drain was hopeless—it 
swarmed with Common Sandpipers, which invariably gave the alarm, and 
Green Sandpipers are not the sort to neglect a warning. The reputation 
they acquired on that day for wariness they have ever since retained, and 
though I have shot them since in other localities, it will be long ere I forget 
the excitement of that first and most irritating pursuit. The Common Sand- 
pipers, on the contrary, flew on before us from corner to corner, sometimes 
stopping to dance and flirt their tails on one of the cross fences, and allowing 
a near approach as they found themselves unmolested by the gun. 
The place might well have provided Wood-Sandpipers as well, but we 
never saw or heard of any being found there. The rough herbage which 
adorned the banks was frequented by several members of the Warbler genus, 
