io6 WILD LIFE ON A NORFOLK ESTUARY 



impulse every little wader takes to flight it may be for a 

 momentary spell of exercise, or maybe some warning cry, 

 not understood by those hidden in the punt, puts all to 

 wing and after wheeling around with quite military pre- 

 cision of method, probably deciding as they turn that it was 

 a false alarm, presently down they drop, and at once scatter 

 again to feed, apparently with greater hurry, as if to make 

 up for lost time. You might almost imagine they fed by 

 piecework ! 



If there be a breeze blowing you will be interested in 

 observing them feeding head to wind ; and should one turn 

 a moment to snatch up a worm it has unwittingly passed by, 

 and the wind ruffles some of its wing coverts, how quickly it 

 right -about -faces and attends to those disorderly feathers 

 before beginning to feed again ! On taking to wing, after a 

 sweep round once or twice, they decide to settle in a new 

 location. You will always observe them fly past where they 

 intend to alight, swing round into the wind again, and then 

 alight retracing their steps to the spot selected, and with 

 their bills pointing to windward, recommence feeding. 



When washed off the flats by a higher tide, away they 

 hasten either to the beach or the marshes, the larger waders 

 retiring to the ronds to await the ebbing of the waters. All of 

 them seem to know instinctively when the water has fallen. 



The greenshank, when feeding, selects some isolated tide 

 pool, or oftener a shallow creek, along which he walks he 

 would run if he could in a zigzag manner, snatching at 

 frightened shrimps that hastily scurry to either side. He 

 does not leave much of a creek unworked. The redshank 

 often dips his head underwater, I am confident on spec., 

 before he has ever sighted prey. The dunlin, more especially 

 on the softer ooze, shows his dislike to a muddy worm, by 

 running with it, dangling from his mandibles, to wash it in 

 the shallows. You may see the avocet doing exactly the 

 same thing, taking care that not a spot of mud shall soil his 

 snowy breast. It is funny, too, to witness how a small wader, 

 feeding at the extreme edge of a drain, and blown unex- 

 pectedly into it, will simply let the wind drift him across it, 

 scarcely attempting to paddle as he goes ; and then, scram- 

 bling up the opposite side, begin at once to trot and feed as 

 if nothing had happened. 



