THE ANGLER 149 



Mayfly are appearing at the surface, and a rise of 

 trout is hoped for, we can give little attention to 

 wild life. Our feeling for these things then must 

 be indirect or subconscious. But in the waiting 

 hours of the dry fly angler's day, we can be very 

 sensitive to the beauty and interest of the riverside. 

 In the meadows and marshes of the chalk stream 

 there are birds we grow familiar with in spring and 

 summer. I have written of the bleating snipe and 

 the wayward, wild-flighted " martin-snipe " in other 

 books, but not of the redshank and sandpiper. 

 The redshank is one of the most volatile of river 

 birds. Every spring a few of these smart little 

 birds appear in the lower Test meadows, and I 

 have seen sandpipers there in later summer; but 

 that they nest in the place has not been proved. 

 If we come within a hundred yards of the spot which 

 it frequents, the redshank rises on the wing, and 

 for a quarter of an hour or more will go through 

 its singular play of wing and voice. It wheels round 

 in irregular circles, ten yards or so from the ground, 

 with a plaintive, piping note rather sweet and pleasing, 

 though after a time this may grow a little wearisome. 

 Its wings are cleanly, sharply clipped out for strong 

 flight, like those of the dunlin. All these waders 

 with narrow, pointed and clipt-looking wings must 

 be powerful in flight, fit for long journeys quickly 

 accomplished ; but in the meadows, when it is dis- 

 turbed, the redshank does not greatly exert itself. 



