12 RURAL BIRD LIFE. 



an All-wise Providence. Where is the naturalist who, 

 when he sees a bird practising its varied motions, does 

 not admire the little actor, and if possessed of any feeling 

 as beseemeth a true naturalist, leave her victorious, to 

 attend to her domestic cares in peace ? Although all 

 these protective motions claim admiration from a 

 lover of animated nature, yet the power now under 

 notice is perhaps most readily manifest to a casual 

 observer. 



Let us stroll down this sandy shore. Observe yon 

 little Sandpiper which has just started up from our feet, 

 endeavouring to make us concentrate all our attention 

 upon herself. Fearlessly she reels and tumbles before us, 

 while her mate from yonder group of rocks is encouraging 

 her with notes of condolence. Why is she so anxious ? 

 Her treasured eggs are on the sandy shore, and the 

 little sand-bird is trying to the utmost those powers 

 which an All-wise Providence leads her to manifest for 

 the safety of her one and all-absorbing care. Now we will 

 repair to the barren waste. Here the Lapwing, driven by 

 resistless impulse, will flutter with seemingly broken 

 wings, now tumbling, now running, uttering her mournful 

 cries, but in all these motions the watchful bird is 

 endeavouring to lead us from her home on this dreary 

 moor. Why is she so anxious ? Disregard the motions 

 of the watchful mother, and we shall probably find, after 

 a scrutinising search, her eggs on some slight eminence, 

 or her little ones nestling closely in the friendly shelter 

 of the scanty herbage. The young themselves, even at 

 this early age, manifest no slight degree of instinct for 

 their self-preservation. These alluring motions are not 

 confined to the female alone, for her mate, in another 

 direction, is performing various aerial gyrations, which 

 would lead an inexperienced person to believe that the 



