22 8 Angling Travels in Norway. 



approach, nor do I bear a grudge against the rowdy 

 fieldfare, for, in pointing out the situation of her nest, 

 she takes me into confidence ; but for the merganser, 

 the redshank, and the sandpiper I have not the same 

 regard, for they always seem to imagine that the sole 

 aim and purpose of my existence is to harm them 

 and theirs ! 



I imagine that during the nesting season they mistake 

 me for the ornithologist in quest of " clutches," either for 

 collection, sale, or exchange, for they take endless pains 

 and waste a deal of time to entice me from their nests or 

 young. 



To my mind the most aggravating of these is the little 

 sandpiper, who, as I stroll from pool to pool, entirely 

 unmindful of her existence, thinks it necessary to run and 

 fiutter in my path with one wing half outspread and 

 drooping towards the ground. 



I suppose she classes me with egg-lifters and four- 

 footed vermin, but I would prefer her to know I am fully 

 aware that if she were sufiiering from an injured pinion 

 she would probably be lying low in the scrub and not 

 parading her infirmity before my very eyes. What 

 annoys me most in her performance is that, when she 

 considers that I have been misled sufficiently far from 

 her domicile, she suddenly forgets the part she has been 

 playing, and fiies back sound in wind and limb, as if 



