Wanderings of a Naturalist 



flew, calling, across the forest near us, and disappeared a few 

 hundred yards away, having evidently dropped to the ground. 

 We surmised a nest must be near, and on reaching the spot, 

 which had been by no means easy to mark, the greenshank 

 rose, settled for a moment, obviously surprised at our sudden 

 appearance, then took wing uttering" anxious cries. A very 

 careful search was made over all the neighbouring ground, 

 and at length we were rewarded by fin4ing the hen green- 

 shank sitting on her nest. Although we were not more than 

 six feet away the bird crouched flat and absolutely motionless 

 on her eggs, relying on her wonderful protective colouring 

 and evidently thinking she was invisible to our eyes. The 

 nesting site was under a large dead pine branch, the nest 

 being placed amongst some of the small side branches. 

 Four eggs, handsomely coloured and marked, were in the 

 nest, and in appearance were quite distinctive and unlike 

 those of any other "wader." 



The following afternoon a "hiding tent" was erected 

 some little distance from the nest, but on returning to the 

 spot next day we found two collectors on the ground search- 

 ing for greenshanks' nests. After a slight "brush," on our 

 explaining that we had already found a nest and wished 

 to photograph the sitting bird, a friendly arrangement 

 was come to, and the collectors transferred their energies 

 elsewhere. 



But the following morning — May 17 — on reaching 

 the greenshanks' nesting ground, we found the nest to all 

 appearance deserted, presumably owing to the disturbances 

 of the previous day. The eggs were cold to the touch and 

 covered with drops of water from a shower which had passed 

 over earlier in the morning. Thus, on revisiting the nesting 

 site on the 19th, with little hope of seeing the nest occupied, 

 we were delighted to find that the greenshank had returned 

 and was sitting as closely as on the occasion on which the 

 nest was first found. On the morning of the 20th we moved 

 the tent closer to the nest, and again in the evening. The 



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