28 LIFE AND SPORT IN HAMPSHIRE 



ling ; of how the bird of prey is sometimes beaten 

 after a great contest of speed and a ravening chase 

 over land and water ; and, watching these exercises 

 of dunlins in a high wind, I do not doubt the grim 

 hawk can be outclassed by these delicate little waders. 

 The sparrowhawk and the merlin are the deadliest 

 foes of the waders and the wild ducks. Morning 

 after morning I have seen a hawk working the shore 

 in search for prey ; always the same beat at the same 

 hour. Teal and mallard, wallowing at the foamy 

 edge of the sea or just floating in the shallow lakes 

 made by the incoming tide, well know the danger, 

 though the hawk be gliding a full hundred yards 

 away by the side of the cliffs; and they will be up 

 and off to the deeper sea if the enemy turn a few 

 yards in their direction. A hawk, I believe, will 

 keep the dunlin flock in the same state of unrest. 

 Without any of the quick- changing effects of sun 

 and shade playing in turn on their spread wings, 

 the dunlins during this drill are very good to watch ; 

 but the play of light does enhance the beauty of 

 the thing. When I am looking due south into the 

 light, the flock springing from the pebbled strand 

 is but a thick shower of dark, almost black, marks 

 in the air. Suddenly the flock swerves, and the 

 shower of dark is a shower of light only to become 

 dark again next moment. How white the dunlins 

 can look hi repose as well as a-wing we recognise 

 when, with our backs to the sun, we look at a flock 



