500 SANDPIPERS AND RELATED SPECIES 



they are hatched unless disturbed. They remain in the nest as long 

 as two or three days, and probably sometimes return to it, for Mr. 

 Owen informs me (in litt.) that he recently flushed a bird from its nest 

 in which were four young birds which " were certainly six days old, 

 and quite nicely fledged." 



The downy covering of the young birds, like that of most other 

 Waders, is of such a colour and pattern as to make them practically 

 invisible when crouching on the ground or among the herbage. 

 When threatened with danger they scatter and crouch at an alarm- 

 note from the parents, and remain quite still until the enemy has 

 passed of its own accord, or been lured away by the wiles of the old 

 birds. 



The sandpiper, especially when nesting in a wood, frequently 

 perches on the branches of bushes and trees, but somewhat less so 

 than some of its relatives, to be described later. One a male was 

 observed to return again and again to the branches of a tree close to 

 its nesting-place. On one occasion, while perched on a branch, it 

 uttered its love-song for exactly eight minutes. The female was seen 

 on the branch of a partly submerged tree preening her feathers. 1 



When the young can fly the breeding-places are abandoned. 

 This generally takes place about the end of July, and the birds are 

 seldom seen about the rivers where they nest after the middle of 

 August. The Rev. H. A. Macpherson says the migration to the coast 

 takes place at night: "On July 28, 1888, at 11.30 P.M., wind E. to 

 N.E., and much rain, I clearly distinguished the voices of the curlew 

 and sandpiper among other species passing over Carlisle. The same 

 was observed on the 21st of July 1888, and on a good many other 

 occasions." 2 



For a few weeks they may be seen frequenting estuaries and the 

 muddy banks of rivers. They prefer fen drains and the creeks in 

 salt-marshes to the open shore, and it is far more usual to put up 



1 Macpherson and Duckworth, Birds of Cumberland, p. 155. 

 * Fauna of Lakeland, p. 393. 



