86 BIRDS OF LOCH AND MOUNTAIN 



able to cover them were the small ends not towards 

 the centre. They are very beautiful, the ground 

 colour varying from a buffish to a greenish tinge, 

 and the eggs are thickly speckled and blotched 

 with crimson or brownish red. 



The nest is always in the vicinity of water, 

 usually on the river banks amongst the lupines or 

 thick grasses. It is scarcely a nest in the proper 

 sense of the word, being merely a hollow scraped 

 in the ground and scantily lined with dried grass, 

 stems, and leaves. Sometimes it is devoid of any 

 lining. Although the Sandpiper seems to prefer a 

 river for its summer haunt, yet it is often met with 

 nesting on the shores of a highland loch, and very 

 beautiful do the birds look as they skim whistling 

 over the loch's mirrored surface. 



Altitude seems to count for nothing with them, 

 and I have seen two or more pairs nesting on 

 the banks of a mountain tarn almost 3,000 feet 

 above sea-level. However, they seem to be in 

 no hurry to arrive on the high ground, and 

 they are usually seen at the mouth of a river a 

 day or so before their advent is recorded on its 

 upper reaches. 



When brooding, the Sandpiper is sometimes a 

 very close sitter, and will almost allow herself to 

 be taken with the hand. When at last she sees 

 that further deception is useless she flutters off, 

 hissing loudly, and trailing her wings along the 

 ground in the attempt to draw the intruder from 

 her nest. But once she knows that her secret has 

 been discovered, she no longer sits closely, but slips 

 off the eggs long before you are near. 



Whether the Sandpiper is a close sitter or not 

 depends a great deal on her surroundings. Should 



