210 WITH NATURE AND A CAMERA. 



there was not the slightest sign of one of them. 

 Eventually, however, I discovered all three, and upon 

 measuring, found that the one which had travelled 

 farthest away from the place where its mother 

 crouched had run six yards before clapping down 

 to hide. In order to show the wonderful way in 

 which these little creatures harmonise with their 

 surroundings, and thus escape detection, I got my 

 brother to photograph one of them exactly where 

 it crouched, and then folding a black focussing cloth 

 up I placed it beneath the chick, and had another 

 study made. By this means, I think, we have suc- 

 ceeded in illustrating with some degree of clearness 

 the value of protective coloration, so far as the 

 limitations of black and white will allow. 



Young Curlews, Golden Plovers, Peewits, and 

 Sandpipers, all run about directly they leave the 

 shell; indeed, sometimes actually before they have 

 accomplished their deliverance. I have on more 

 than one occasion seen a baby Peewit wandering 

 about with half of its prison house still attached 

 to its downy rump ; and if a hawk or other bird of 

 prey should happen to appear overhead, they in- 

 stinctively clap flat upon the ground, and remain 

 motionless as stones until the danger has passed. 

 In order to illustrate the benefits of keeping 

 absolutely still and trusting for safety to the pro- 

 tective coloration of its upper parts, I sought 

 systematically for a young Curlew last summer on 

 the Westmorland hills, and when I found it half 

 hidden in a tuft of withered grass, I got my brother 

 to make a photograph of it exactly where it lay, 

 and then mother of the long-legged creature 

 standing on the muddy shores of .a half-silted-up 

 cattle pond. As soon as the second picture had 

 been taken, the bird deliberately walked into the 



