ACTODROMAS MINUTILLA : LEAST SANDPIPER. 215 



selves to encroach upon the stern shores, and baffled, 

 sink back howling into the depths. Winds shriek as 

 they course from crag to crag in mad career, till the 

 humble mosses that clothe the rocks crouch lower still 

 in fear. Overhead the Sea Gulls scream as they 

 winnow, and the Murres, all silent, ply eager oars to 

 escape the blast. What is here to entice the steps 

 of the delicate birds ? Yet they have come, urged 

 by resistless impulse, and have made a nest on the 

 ground in some half-sheltered nook. The material was 

 ready at hand, in the mossy covering of the earth, and 

 little care or thought was needed to fashion a little 

 bunch into a little home. Four eggs are laid (they are 

 buffy-yellow, thickly spotted over with brown and drab), 

 with the points together, that they may take up less 

 room and be more warmly covered ; there is need of 

 this, such large eggs belonging to so small a bird. As 

 we draw near, the mother sees us, and nestles closer 

 still over her treasures, quite hiding them in the cover- 

 ing of her breast, and watches us with timid eyes, 

 all anxiety for the safety of what is dearer to her 

 than her own life. Her mate stands motionless, but not 

 unmoved, hard by, not venturing even to chirp the note 

 of encouragement and sympathy she loves to hear. 

 Alas ! hope fades and dies out, leaving only fear ; there 

 is no further concealment — we are almost upon the 

 nest — almost trodden upon she springs up with a 

 piteous cry and files a little distance, re-alighting, 

 almost beside herself with grief ; for she knows only too 

 well what is to be feared at such a time. If there were 

 hope for her that her nest were undiscovered, she 

 might dissimulate, and try to entice us away by those 

 touching deceits that maternal love inspires. But 



