The Land of the Hills and the Glens 



turnstone, with which it might perhaps be confused, and 

 its reddish bill is black at the tip and light near the base, 

 while spread over its sombre plumage is a slight tinge of 

 purple. 



When the wind blows softly so that the swell on the 

 sands is not too heavy, I have watched bar-tailed godwits 

 at their feeding. In appearance they are as miniature cur- 

 lews, excepting that their plumage is of a lighter colour and 

 the bill, instead of being in a downward curve, has a slight 

 upward tendency. But in their feeding they are far more 

 active than their larger relatives, and constantly probe the 

 soft ooze with their sensitive bills as they walk restlessly 

 about. They seem remarkably resistant to the cold, for I 

 have seen a large flock of them asleep, on a midwinter's day 

 with a cold wind blowing, with the water up to their thighs. 



Whereas curlew and godwit frequent the mud flats, 

 sanderling, and to a lesser extent dunlin, keep to the firm 

 sands in their feeding. Of the two latter species the sander- 

 ling is the more confiding, specially when he first arrives 

 from his Arctic breeding-ground. In winter plumage he 

 has the breast and underparts of a snow-white colour, so 

 that when the sun shines on the sands a flock of these birds 

 as they stand around resemble, at a distance, miniature 

 sea-gulls. Their great enemies are the black-headed and 

 common gulls, and usually one or two gulls may be seen 

 standing amongst a flock of sanderlings on the feed. When- 

 ever one of the latter birds has secured a morsel and is 

 preparing to eat it, one of the gulls spies him, rushes up, 

 and forcing the small bird to flight, chivvies him here and 

 there in his efforts to make him drop his rightful portion. 

 But the sanderling is an excellent flier, and is much more 

 clever than the dunlin in eluding the tyrant, so that the 

 latter has often to confess himself beaten and retire from the 

 chase. 



There is a certain Ross-shire bay where, sheltered from 

 the North Atlantic swell by outlying islands, great northern 



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