i86 WILD NATURE'S WAYS. 



Our first illustration represents a grass tuft 

 with a redshank's nest concealed in it just as it 

 was left by its owner, and the second secured 

 from exactly the same point after the grass had 

 been parted and the eggs revealed. When the 

 bird came back, she showed the most unmistak- 

 able anxiety to hide her home, and sitting on 

 the nest, busied herself in dragging blade after 

 blade of grass back to its original position with 

 her bill. 



I remember once visiting a nest belonging to 

 this species rather late in the evening, and as I 

 neither saw the bird quit it nor heard her familiar 

 cry near the place, became apprehensive lest 

 the hiding contrivance I had built close at hand 

 had made her forsake it. Stooping to ascertain 

 whether her eggs were warm or cold, I was greatly 

 astonished to discover the bird sitting at home, 

 and although I touched her somewhat roughly 

 on her back, she did not appear to mind, but sat 

 quite still until I withdrew. 



The female redshank manifests the greatest 

 solicitude for the welfare of her young. I watched 

 the individual figured in the full page illustration 

 reproduced on p. 189 covering her downy chicks 

 within a few feet of me during the threatened 

 downpour of a shower of rain. She made the 

 happiest, proudest little mother I ever saw, and 

 her tenderness was a subject for admiration. 



