THE FAMILY OF WADERS. 259 



He knew where all the yelpers lived, and they 

 answered him. They flew together, and yelped 

 together. They also disturbed all the fowl for 

 miles, and sent them to open water. We did not 

 get a shot that day, and, what was far worse, we 

 did not get that redshank. Yet I like the bird. 

 He has been associated with our shore and swamp 

 wanderings for so many years ; he is the fitting 

 ornament to the place he frequents ; and his wild 

 cries fall in well with the howling winds and the 

 lap of the waves on those bleak shores. Wild, 

 noisy, and suspicious, he is far above any other 

 wader, according to my own experience ; but, like 

 other wild creatures, he reverses the order of things 

 at certain seasons. Quite recently that is, three 

 years ago and we have every reason to think that 

 it is the same now, several pairs of redshanks 

 were building and hatching in some rough ground 

 close to a Government dockyard in fact, close to 

 a populous town only one hour's journey by rail 

 from London Bridge. 



With the dunlin or ox-bird will close this short 

 account of some of the waders that live principally 

 on the edge of salt water. It is only such as can be 



