CHAP. SEVENTEEN SPRING BIRDS 



their plaintive and not unmusical whistle for hours togeth- 

 er, sometimes flitting about after each other with a flight 

 resembling that of a swallow, and sometimes running rap- 

 idly along the ground, every now and then jerking up their 

 wings till they meet above their back. Both the bird and its 

 eggs are exactly similar in colour to the ground on which 

 they breed ; this is a provision of nature, to preserve the 

 eggsof birds thatbreed on the ground from the prying eyes 

 of their numerous enemies, and is observable in many dif- 

 ferent kinds; the colour of the young birds is equally fav- 

 ourable to their concealment. 



The redshank does not breed on the stones or bare 

 ground, but in some spot of rough grass; their motions are 

 very curious at this time of the year, as they run along with 

 great swiftness, clapping their wings together audibly above 

 their heads, and flying about round and round any intruder 

 with rapid jerks, or hovering in the air like a hawk, all the 

 time uttering a loud and peculiar whistle. They lead their 

 young to the banks of any pool or ditch at hand, and they 

 conceal themselves in the holes and corners close to the 

 water's edge. 



The oyster-catchers sit quietly in pairs the chief part of 

 the day on the banks or islands of shingle about the river 

 or on the shore, but resort in the evenings to the sands in 

 large flocks. I have often been puzzled to understand why, 

 during the whole of the breeding season, the oyster-catch- 

 ers remain in large flocks along the coast, notwithstanding 

 their duties of hatching and rearing their young. When all 

 the other birds are paired off, they still every now and then 

 collect in the'same numbers as they do in winter, 

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