756 British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs. 



is best alone, or with one companion, at most, of similar views. For this reason 

 — that one sees so much more of the ways of the birds when quietly going about 

 alone — I have generally preferred not to take an attendant about with me, unless 

 I can get a gamekeeper, or some one accustomed to hunt wild birds and beasts. 

 Such attendants as are picked up by chance on the spot, have a way of dressing 

 themselves in such a manner that they instantly attract the notice of every creature 

 that has eyes, and is within a mile of them. In addition, they have no idea of 

 keeping out of sight, and aire addicted to using their voice boisterously, just when 

 it is most important that they should not; and they invariably tread on every 

 •dry stick they come across. 



Even amongst ornithologists, there is not nearly enough attention paid to 

 such matters ; a really congenial and judicious companion is not often met with ; 

 but I am privileged to know a few. Had I, on the occasions above, known of 

 Mr. Bidwell's excellent and ingenious invention — a Japanese telescope rod, with 

 an inverted mirror at its point — I could have examined the inside of any nest 

 up to twenty feet above the ground, without the fatigue of " swarming." 



The normal number of eggs is four, but seven have been found in one nest' 

 but this was, no doubt, a co-operative store. The eggs are of a pale greenish 

 drab, with neutral tint shell-spots and purplish-brown surface spots, a shade larger 

 than those of the Wood Sandpiper, measuring over ij inch by i3\j. Eggs are to 

 be found, by the fortunate, from mid-April to early July. 



The Green Sandpiper is a very shy and wary bird, with acute ears and sharp 

 eyes. It would be very difl&cult to shoot were it not for its habit of frequenting 

 ditches and streams with high banks, which allow it to be approached by a cautious 

 stalker. I generally make a point of stalking a Green Sandpiper, even when I 

 have no intention of shooting at it, for practice. In this country it always seems 

 to prefer running water to ponds (the Wood Sandpiper generally shewing an 

 opposite taste) and fresh water, or, at least, brackish, is more to its fancy than 

 salt. It is not uncommon inland by small streams in spring and autumn, singly, 

 or in pairs; but its loud "yelp," and the sight of its white rump vanishing 

 swiftly a good way off, are all that most people get a chance of hearing and 

 seeing of it. It feeds on beetles, flies, gnats, semi-aquatic and subterranean larvae 

 and worms ; also fresh and brackish water mollusca and Crustacea. Like most of 

 the Totanus group, it likes to dabble its food in water — no doubt to wash off 

 mud— before swallowing it. Its flight is rapid and erratic, like a Snipe's, and 

 it generally rises with a loud " weet-weet," a good many times repeated, except 

 when surprised and greatly startled by suddenly finding a possible foe close to 

 it ; it then generally rises silently and in a flurry, and does not call out till it 



