Sandpipers and Sparrow- Hawk 173 



observe the Hawk a moment too soon, and only saved itself 

 by diving into the water. Just brushing the stone where 

 its quarry had so lately sat, the Hawk followed the Sandpiper 

 into the water, the force of its stoop sending a shower of 

 spray in all directions, and all but submerging it. For a 

 moment I thought it had actually seized its prey under 

 water, and felt relieved when it scrambled, empty-footed, 

 on to the stone, and shook out its wetted plumage. The 

 next instant the Sandpiper appeared, swimming, beneath a 

 willow bush at the side of the stream, and emerging from 

 the water under its cover, flew off, piping loudly, as if 

 assured of its safety now that it was upon the wing. The 

 Hawk deigned to take no further notice of it, but, all 

 unconscious of my near proximity, sat ruffling his wetted 

 feathers for a short time, and then went off up the glen in 

 search of some other prey. He had, as I knew, a family of 

 three nearly fledged young ones to cater for, less than a 

 quarter of a mile further up the stream, but yet I would 

 have begrudged him a dinner off the Sandpiper. When 

 I reached the nest, half an hour later, I found that he 

 had already made good his loss by substituting Thrush for 

 Piper, the yet warm, though half-devoured, remains of 

 the victim resting beside his hungry brood. 



The Sandpiper is a common bird over all the higher 

 water-shed of the Dee, often following the streams far out 

 into the mountains, and becoming one of the solitary 

 angler's sole companions there. The summer long it flits, 

 like another Ariel, before him, cheering his idle moments, 

 and never failing to answer the click of his reel with a 

 plaintive whistle. Its diet here consists largely of winged 

 insects, and their larvae ; and often have I lingered to watch 

 one tripping gracefully from stone to stone, securing a fly 

 there, or anon balancing itself on some slight eminence 

 here, to take stock of my movements. The head and neck 

 are then scarcely still for a moment, and the tail is perpetu- 

 ally swaying up and down in the fashion so characteristic 

 of the family. I have often wondered how this swaying 

 motion can have originated. It is quite as pronounced in 

 the tiny nestling a mere puff of grey and white bespangled 



