122 THE BIRDS OF OUR RAMBLES. 



from the waterside, where it trips to and fro 

 in quest of the worms and insects which compose 

 its food ; and the impressions of its little feet 

 may be seen pricked in the mud and sand every- 

 where round the shore. When disturbed it rises 

 hurriedly with a shrill weet-weet, and speeds across 

 the water, its recurved wings often striking the 

 surface as it flies along. It is most attached U> 

 its haunt, and summer after summer comes back 

 to make its nest in one particular spot. Some- 

 times it is seen, especially during the love season, 

 running along the rough walls or the tops of 

 gates, with wings arched or drooping, paying 

 court to its mate. About a month after their 

 arrival these Sandpipers begin to breed. Their 

 nest is seldom placed far from water of some 

 description. If not on the absolute shore of 

 the mountain pool, it is on the banks of one 

 of the feeder streams near by. It is usually built 

 under the shelter of a heather bush or a tuft 

 of grass, and very often where the ground is 

 sandy and pebble-strewn a simple little nest 

 enough, merely a hollow lined with a few bits 

 of dead herbage. Here the female lays four 

 eggs, very large in comparison to the size of 

 the parent, pale buff in ground colour, blotched 

 and spotted with dark and light brown and 

 violet-gray. This bird will often be observed 

 to engage in various antics when frightened 

 from its nest, rolling and tumbling along the 

 ground as if wounded, seeking to decoy the in- 

 truder from the sacred spot where its eggs 

 are resting. Their colour, however, harmonises 

 closely with surrounding objects, and they are 

 only discovered by the closest scrutiny, save by 



