58 A BIRD CALENDAR 



their getting sun-baked. This theory should 

 be borne in mind by those who visit sand- 

 banks in March. Whether it be true or not, 

 there is certainly no need for the adult birds 

 to keep the eggs warm in the daytime, and 

 they spend much of their time in wheeling 

 gracefully overhead or in sleeping on the sand. 

 By nightfall all the eggs are covered by parent 

 birds, which are said to sit so closely that it is 

 possible to catch them by means of a butterfly 

 net. The terns, although they do not sit much 

 on their eggs during the day, ever keep a 

 close watch on them, so that, when a human 

 being lands on a nest-laden sandbank, the 

 parent birds fly round his head, uttering loud 

 screams. 



The swallow-plovers go farther. They 

 become so excited that they flutter about on 

 the sand, with dragging wings and limping 

 legs, as if badly wounded. Sometimes they 

 perform somersaults in their intense excite- 

 ment. The nearer the intruder approaches 

 their eggs the more vigorous do their antics 

 become. 



Every lover of the winged folk should make 

 a point of visiting, late in March or early in 

 April, an islet on which these birds nest. He 



