TOO BIRDS OF LOCH AND MOUNTAIN 



thinking the young ones would be hatched, but 

 found the shells were only somewhat more chipped. 

 Even on the following day the young birds had not 

 freed themselves, and so on revisiting the spot that 

 evening I thought I was fairly certain of finding 

 the youngsters near the nest. To my great dis- 

 appointment, however, the nest was empty, and 

 although I looked long and carefully they were 

 nowhere to be found. Even the egg-shells had 

 been carried away from the vicinity of the nest by 

 the watchful parent birds, who all the time I was 

 on the island kept up a continual whistling and 

 showed signs of the greatest distress. 



It is a noteworthy fact that the Oyster Catcher, 

 while it has eggs, cannot be called a very 

 demonstrative bird when its nesting site is dis- 

 turbed by the intruder ; but when the young 

 have left the shell all this changes, and both the 

 parent birds show signs of the greatest anxiety 

 for their children, uttering their shrill " Kabeek, 

 kobeek " repeatedly, and hovering round the dis- 

 turber of their peace until he is well clear of their 

 nesting ground. 



Knowing that the young Oyster Catchers above- 

 mentioned must be somewhere on the island, I 

 left my camera there all night and waded across 

 next day. For some reason the parent birds 

 were less watchful than usual on this occasion, and 

 I had almost reached the island before the mother 

 bird caught sight of me. Immediately she called 

 loudly to her young, which thereupon squatted 

 flat on the ground, and though I looked carefully 

 where I knew them to be hiding, it was some time 

 before I could discover them. To all appearances 

 they were pieces of wood lying under a large pine 



