WITH THE WADERS 99 



fright, and runs by at full speed on his 

 pretty dark-green legs. Yet both presently 

 become reassured, and fall to feeding with 

 all composure almost about my feet. I have 

 been still so long that I must be harmless. 

 And now the plover himself takes wing (I 

 am glad to find he can), but only for a rod 

 or two, alighting on a conical bit of island. 

 There is nothing for him to eat there, ap- 

 parently, but at least the place will keep his 

 feet dry. He stands quiet, waiting. And 

 so he continues to do for the hour and more 

 that I still remain. 



My own stay, I should mention, is by this 

 time compulsory. I, too, am on an island 

 (I have just discovered the fact), and not 

 choosing to turn wader on my own account, 

 must wait till the tide goes down. It is no 

 hardship. Every five minutes brings me 

 something new. I have only now noticed 

 (a slight cry having drawn my attention) 

 that there are sandpipers of another kind 

 here a little flock of dunlins, or redbacks. 

 They are bunched on the pebbly edge of a 

 second island (which was not an island a 

 quarter of an hour ago), nearer to me even 



