48 LLANDDWYN 



hovered over us, dashed out across the sands and 

 back again, crying all the while "Quit!" or "Quip!" 

 in piercing tones, whilst from time to time some 

 small white fury swept past in low flight, rolling out 

 her objurgatory " Gr-r-r-r-r!" as we bent over her 

 nest. 



The chicks, buffish above, lightly streaked and 

 spotted with black, but white below, recalled those of 

 Gulls and Plovers and Snipe, and of all that great 

 throng that lay eggs of a generally brownish tinge 

 spotted and blotched with black, as if they had been 

 positives from egg-shell negatives, but had managed 

 to keep their under parts white by crouching upon 

 them and hiding them from the light. Out of the 

 shell, at any rate, they are born crouchers, clapping 

 down confidently among the shingle a couple of feet 

 from the observer, and ready to be trodden on rather 

 than admit by moving that they have been detected. 



As we returned to the muddy channel of the Cefni 

 far out across the sands (a few miles northward we 

 had seen it a solid mass from bank to bank of Water 

 Crowfoot a Milky Way of serried white blossoms 

 up and down stream as far as eye could reach) the 

 Lesser Terns crossed us, also returning with excited 

 cries to their nests. 



By the way we fell in with a family of Shelducks 

 male, female, and a numerous following of young in 

 down feeding by one of the larger pools on the 

 sand. As soon as they sighted us, the female set off 

 excitedly for the channel, the young following in 

 disorder, whilst the male bird seemed to act as 

 rear-guard covering their retreat. The head of the 

 column had already entered the channel and were 



