86 THE SWAN AND HER CREW. 



die, so they reluctantly left the birds on their perch to snore in 

 peace. 



" What is that partridge calling for?" said Frank. 



" I can't think, " answered Jimmy. " It 

 seems to come from the top of that hay- 

 stack, but that is a very unlikely place for 

 a partridge in the breeding season." 



" I will go up and see," said Dick, " if 

 you will give me a back." They soon lifted 

 him up, and as they did so, a French or 

 red-legged partridge flew off. 



" Here is her nest with ten eggs in it," 

 cried Dick, "what an extraordinary spot 

 for a nest." And so it was, but not alto- 

 gether singular, for the partridge has been 

 known to build in a hollow tree, and in 

 other unlikely situations. 

 Leaving the wood, they proceeded up a small stream which 

 empties itself into the Waveney. As they advanced, a sand- 

 piper took short flights in front of them. It was presently 

 joined by another, and the two seemed so uneasy, that the boys 

 concluded that their nest could not be far off. They therefore 

 set to work to examine every likely spot with great care. Dick 

 was the one who found it, in fact he very nearly trod upon it. 

 Four cream-coloured eggs with brown spots, very much pointed 

 and very large for the size of the bird, lay in a hollow in a 

 gravelly bank, upon a few pieces of dry grass and leaves, the 

 birds' apology for a nest. The sandpipers flew over head, 

 uttering their cry of " weet, weet, weet," with great anxiety, and 

 they looked so pretty, that the boys felt sorry for them, and 

 only took two of their eggs. 



The summer snipe, as this bird is also called, is well known 

 to everyone who wanders by the side of streams or lakes. Its 

 white stomach contrasts so prettily with its dusky back, and it 

 walks so merrily about the water-edge, trotting over the lily 

 leaves, and taking short flights before the angler, that it is one 

 of my favourite birds, the kingfisher and the water-ouzel being 

 the other two. 



Jimmy had gone off up a small ravine thickly covered with 

 underwood, in search of a fern or two which he expected to 

 find there. He had not been gone long before they heard him 



