90 WILDFOWL AND SEA-FOWL OF GREAT BRITAIN 



be has only been lip-hooked, has got on the bottom 

 and rubbed it out. We make a few remarks in 

 strict confidence to ourselves, and in the most deli- 

 berate manner, for there is not the least cause for 

 hurry. We take our rod to pieces, wind our line on 

 a large cork, and devote the rest of our time to the 

 study of Sandpipers. 



If not disturbed, the Fiddler will make itself con- 

 tented on any small gudgeon stream. Things are 

 strangely altered of late years. One stream that any 

 boy could leap over I have seen all alive with the 

 delicious little fish. The stream is there still, but 

 the gudgeons are gone and so are the Sandpipers. 

 This bird can swim and dive well. I have met with 

 it in very different localities, on the tops of the hills, 

 by the side of small rain-pools, by small dykes in 

 water meadows, running about close to houses near 

 the water and by the river-side. 



Not that it is numerous, but a few nesting pairs, 

 distributed at distances wide apart, by their ceaseless 

 activity, running and flying up and down with their 

 cheerful pipings, give life to very beautiful, but at the 

 same time lonely places. So lonely and far away 

 from man's direct influence are some of these, that 

 the otter fishes in broad daylight, bringing his 

 catch to bank and eating it there. 



Wild creatures do not take the least notice of the 

 rush of railway trains, they know no harm will come 

 from them. The Sandpipers and otters live in 

 peace close to where these are continually rushing 

 up and down. 



