136 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS. [CIIAP. xvn. 



nacious little fellow ran up to the intruder, and taking advantage 

 of his weakness, jumped on him, trampling upon him and pecking 

 at his head, and then dragging him along the ground as fiercely 

 as a game-cock. 



The hen pewit has a peculiar instinct in misleading people as 

 to the whereabouts of her nest ; as soon as any one appears in the 

 field where the nest is, the bird runs quietly and rapidly in a 

 stooping posture to some distance from it, and then rises with 

 loud cries and appearance of alarm, as if her nest was immediately 

 below the spot she rose from. When the young ones are hatched 

 too, the place to look for them is, not where the parent birds are 

 screaming and fluttering about, but at some little distance from 

 it ; as soon as you actually come to the spot where their young 

 are, the old birds alight on the ground a hundred yards or so 

 from you, watching your movements. If, however, you pick up 

 one of the young ones, both male and female immediately throw 

 off all disguise, and come wheeling and screaming round your 

 head, as if about to fly in your face. The young birds, when ap- 

 proached, squat flat and motionless on the ground, often amongst 

 the weeds and grass in a shallow pool or ditch, where, owing to 

 their colour, it is very difficult to distinguish them from the sur- 

 rounding objects. 



Towards the end of March, the ring-dotterel, the redshank, the 

 curlew, the oyster-catcher, and some other birds of the same 

 kind begin to frequent their breeding-places. On those parts of 

 the sandhills which are covered with small pebbles, the ring- 

 dotterels take up their station, uttering their plaintive and not 

 unmusical whistle for hours together, sometimes flitting about 

 after each other with a flight resembling that of a swallow, and 

 sometimes running rapidly along the ground, every now and 

 then jerking up their wings till they meet above their back. 

 Both the bird and irs eggs are exactly similar in colour to the 

 ground on which they breed ; this is a provision of nature, to 

 preserve the eggs of birds that breed on the ground from the 

 prying eyes of their numerous enemies, and is observable in many 

 different kinds ; the colour of the young birds is equally favour- 

 able to their concealment. 



The redshank does not breed on the stones or bare ground, but 

 iu some spot of rough grass ; their motions are very curious at 



