324 RURAL BIRD LIFE. 



a manner that if we once remove them it is almost im- 

 possible to replace them as to lay so close and com- 

 pact. We cannot help but notice when examining her 

 eggs how closely they harmonise with the surroundings. 

 Take one of them out and place it upon the sandy ground, 

 and direct your attention from it a moment, and then 

 mark the difficulty you experience in again noticing it. 

 And handsome eggs they are, and very large for the 

 size of the bird, too. Indeed, had we not seen the little 

 creature leave them, and not been acquainted with this 

 matter, we should have thought them to be the eggs of 

 a much larger bird. They are pale yellow or stone- 

 coloured in ground colour, mottled and blotched with 

 deep reddish-brown, intermingled with faint dashes of 

 much lighter brown and purple, sometimes streaked on 

 the larger end with very deep brown. And now having 

 minutely examined her home and its contents, let us 

 not make it desolate ; let us reverence the protective 

 wiles of the anxious mother ; let her return to complete 

 her weary labour of love, and rear her brood in peace. 



The male Sandpiper is seldom far away from his 

 partner. When incubation is going on he takes his 

 place upon the eggs, although he does not sit so long as 

 the female. When the bird leaves its nest of its own 

 free will, and unmenaced by danger, it invariably runs 

 for a few yards before taking wing. As soon as the 

 young are hatched they leave the nest and repair to the 

 water-side with their parents. Young Sandpipers are 

 engaging little creatures when in the downy plumage, 

 and quite as active as their parents. As the months 

 roll by the little creatures advance to maturity. Their 

 pinions become stronger and stronger, and ere long 

 they are able to fly for short distances. Their beaks, 

 too, once short, now reach their proper length ; their 



