THE DUNLIN. 335 



surprised, she immediately rose with one of the young ones, 

 either caught up, or clinging to her hy its own instinctive 

 efforts . Whether from a wish to remain as near as possible 

 while the other was in danger, or from the additional weight, 

 could not he ascertained ; hut her flight was short, and she 

 alighted on a rock at no great distance. The remaining 

 little one was with difficulty overtaken, as it ran with great 

 activity and swiftness, although very young, being covered 

 with down, and evidently not long hatched. Most of the 

 little birds of this tribe make no regular 

 nests, but deposit their eggs, four in 

 number, either on the bare sand, just 

 beyond the high-water mark, or like 

 the Dunlin, or Sea- Snipe, on the ground, 

 among long grass and heather : ex- 

 posed, as the eggs then are, both to 

 weather and observation, the bird con- 

 trives to place them so as to take up 

 ,-, . .,, , ,, . E A AS of Dunlin 



the smallest possible space; and this 



she effects by making them all meet at their smaller ends, 

 which also taper more than most other eggs. 



The four little eggs, for they are much smaller than a 

 Snipe's, huddled in so narrow a compass, require a keen and 

 accustomed eye to see them, and at the same time are easily 

 covered by the parent-bird. Her affection for her young is 

 not confined to them when unable to take care of themselves 

 after hatching, but is manifested when they are still in the 

 egg ; for, should a stranger disturb her, she will, instead of 

 running or flying away in her usual manner, immediately 

 affect lameness, or decoy him away from the nest by tum- 

 bling over and over, as if in the last stage of weakness or 

 decrepitude ; or, if actually found upon her nest, she will 

 sometimes nobly persevere in sacrificing herself, rather than 

 desert it. In two instances, amongst many, they were 

 found to sit so close, that they allowed themselves to be 

 lifted off their nests, rather than fly away. It is remarkable 

 how much the same instinctive habits prevail in similar 

 families of birds. Those who may not have had oppor- 



