FIRST WEEK IN APRIL 41 
ground, laid out in the grass amongst 
young nettle shoots. But there were no 
eggs! ‘That will keep,’ we said almost in 
unison. It was the first occasion on which 
I had seen a snipe’s nest, though I had shot 
scores of the birds in winter time in years 
gone by. 
The grebe had gone, but there were many 
tufted ducks. As we surprised them in 
our boat round a bend of the island, we 
observed their characteristic rapid flight, and 
noticed how some made sudden dives, and 
took long swims under water, as they hurried 
away from us. We remembered the Tern 
and the Sanderlings of last year, but they 
were not in evidence. And now it began to 
blow and rain (oh ! this fickle climate of ours) 
and a woful picture we two made, rowing 
homewards in the teeth of the storm, getting 
more and more soaked each minute as we 
braved it out, my chief aim being to keep 
the camera and plates from getting wet. We 
had been able to see the female swan sitting 
on her eggs, and had found another mallard’s 
