136 BIKDS 



rabbit-hole. One pair of redshanks had a nest close to us 

 in a hayfield at the side of the lake, but the grass was too 

 long to allow us to see them. The sandpipers were not so 

 shy, and kept flying along the water-edge or running on 

 the stones. One perched on the gunwale of a boat and 

 allowed us to observe him closely for a long time. He 

 was still there when we left. 



I have purposely avoided giving any name of locality or 

 county ; but I submit that for an ordinary bird-lover who 

 pretends to no special knowledge to have seen all these 

 birds, some of them quite rare, and all a little out of the 

 common, in two or three days, is encouraging, and should 

 inspire others to use their eyes and learn something of 

 bird notes and habits, which will greatly increase the 

 pleasure of a holiday in the country. 



W. F. RAWNSLEY. 



July 2, 1910. 



NOTE. No man deserved it all more than Canon 

 Rawnsley. Great crested grebes, tufted duck, and 

 pochards are winter visitors to my part of London. The 

 tufted duck lay aside their wildness in intelligent know- 

 ledge of their security. Before they depart, however, in 

 the early spring, they resume their shyness and take 

 instant wing at human approach. 



At Brean Down in Somerset, where I have seen the 

 sheld-duck in hundreds, the birds build exclusively in 

 rabbit-holes. A local name, in consequence, is " burrow- 

 duck." Delightful is what the novelists call "the ex- 

 quisite old-world courtesy " displayed by the drake lover 

 to his mate. There is a deference, a solicitude, a gentle 

 and polished devotion in his bowings and dippings and 

 marchings, which we, in our anxiety lest the brute crea- 

 tion should be false to its name, prefer to call " antics." 

 Mr. Hudson gives a fine description of the birds' nesting 

 habits in " Birds and Man." 



