COMMON-SANDPIPER 499 



Zoologist in the Fauna of Lakeland. Mr. James Cooper was fishing 

 in the Petteril, near Carlisle, and noticed a sandpiper standing on a 

 bed of gravel near the brink of the river. He says, " As I approached, 

 it flew across to the opposite side and sat down on a stump of the 

 weiring made to defend the bank of the pool, which is deep, and the 

 stream rapid. It had not been there more than a minute when a 

 sparrow-hawk swept over a high hedge close by ; observing this, the 

 sandpiper dropped off the stump into the pool like a piece of lead, 

 and the hawk went on ; the bird then came cautiously out on to the 

 gravel bed it had left on perceiving the hawk." 1 



Considering that the sandpiper is a common and well-known 

 bird, it is somewhat remarkable that the duration of the incubation 

 period has not been definitely ascertained except in the incubator. 

 Naumann states that it is 14 days, and that incubation is carried 

 out by the female. 2 In both particulars this is surprising for a 

 Wader. Mr. Owen tells me (in litt.) that he believes both birds share 

 in incubation, the female doing the greater part, and that it lasts 

 nearly three weeks, a statement borne out by Mr. W. Evans's experi- 

 ments, who found that two eggs hatched in an incubator on the 22nd 

 day. A correspondent of the Field noticed that the bird when 

 sitting utters a peculiar low note resembling that of the stockdove 

 much subdued. 3 Although not a very shy bird, the sandpiper is wary 

 enough when sitting, and as a rule leaves the nest stealthily and runs 

 a short distance before taking wing. This is almost invariably the 

 case if the nest is unconcealed. If under cover, the bird will often 

 sit tight and allow a very near approach. If then discovered and put 

 off the nest suddenly, she is nearly sure to display her anxiety 

 by fluttering along the ground with trailing wings and puffed out 

 feathers. The sandpiper is much given to this habit, especially when 

 the young are hatched. 



Although able to run, the young do not leave the nest directly 



1 Fauna of Lakeland, p. 393. * Naumann, Vbgel Mitteleuropas, ix. p. 11. 



3 Field, 1894, vol. Ixxxiii. p. 970. 



