2IO THE GAME BIRDS AND WILD FOWL 



rocks at low water, but never occur in very large flocks. Here 

 they are just as active and lively as at their inland mountain 

 haunts, and are by no means shy or difficult to approach. They 

 prefer the rocky beach either to mud-flats, sands, or shingle, and 

 are very fond of frequenting patches of seaweed as soon as 

 the tide has ebbed. It is said that the Common Sandpiper swims 

 well, but I am of opinion that it only does so when wounded, I 

 have known a bird of this species when winged take to the sea, 

 and dive with remarkable skill, flying under water and remaining 

 below the surface for more than a minute at a time. 



Nidification. — In our islands the breeding season of the 

 Common Sandpiper begins in the middle of May, and fresh eggs 

 may be obtained from that date in southern localities to the 

 middle of June in the most northerly ones. I am of opinion this 

 bird pairs for life. It arrives in pairs in spring, and may be seen 

 in pairs with the brood on the sea coast in autumn just previous 

 to its departure for the south. For many years in succession I 

 have also taken its eggs from one of two strips of ground which 

 were used alternately. The nest is generally not far from the 

 waterside, on a strip of scrubby ground where tufts of wiry grass 

 and little heather bushes occur ; but sometimes it is on the banks 

 of one of the streams which fall into the lake ; whilst more rarely 

 it is some considerable distance from any water at all. The nest 

 is merely a little hollow, usually under the shelter of a bush or 

 tuft of grass, lined with scraps of dead heath, withered bents, leaves, 

 and sometimes pine needles. The eggs are always four in number, 

 laid with their pointed ends together, and very pyriform in shape. 

 They are pale creamy buff or yellowish white in ground colour, 

 richly marked with blotches and spots of pale and dark reddish 

 brown and underlying markings of violet-gray. They measure on 

 an average I'S inch in length by i"i inch in breadth. Both 

 parents assist in the task of incubation, but the female sits most 

 frequently. The period of incubation is about three weeks. The 

 parent bird is a rather close sitter, and often remains brooding on 

 the nest until almost trodden upon. It then rises in a hurried 

 manner, and commences to reel and tumble along the ground as 

 if wounded, seeking to decoy the intruder from its home. The 

 eggs are very difficult to see, being coloured so much like sur- 



