CHAPTER XXI 



Sandpipers Spiraea hedges Birds carrying young Adventure with 

 Sparrow Hawk Young Sandpipers The angler's invitation. 



NEARLY half of the entire Sandpiper population of the 

 district may be said to resort to the ungrazed sides of the 

 railway for nesting purposes, and therein they display their 

 wisdom in more ways than one. Not only do they thereby 

 avoid the risks of having their eggs trampled upon, but on 

 the railway they are beyond the reach of those summer 

 floods to which these hill streams are always so subject, and 

 which are equally liable to overflow the shores of Bala Lake. 

 It is owing to this fear of flooding that the nests in the 

 valleys are often placed at quite long distances from the 

 water's edge ; sometimes on the banks of a lane-side fence, 

 at others hidden away close to the roots of a field hedge. 

 Many of the hedges here are, by the way, composed of 

 Spiraea salicifolia, and have spread out to several yards in 

 width. They cover a lot of ground, and form a very 

 indifferent fence against stock of any kind, being freely 

 traversed even by sheep ; but against the storms of winter 

 their massed canes do afford considerable shelter, and 

 Partridges, and other ground-building birds, besides Sand- 

 pipers, find them convenient nesting places. Some of them, 

 when in flower in June, are attractive objects to unaccustomed 

 eyes. 



The fearlessness of Sandpipers, when they have newly 

 hatched young, is often remarkable. I have sometimes had 

 both parents running about within a foot or two of me, and 

 have had much cause to regret that a camera was not at 

 hand to " snap " them. On more than one occasion I have 



convinced myself that, like the Woodcock, and probably 



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