220 THE HUMAN SHDE OF BHIDS 



She hopes by thus allra e Un g your attention to save 

 her piedous ^gs in the sand. 



The lapwing, when disturbed, is a pitiaUe sig^ 

 with her seaoingly broken wings and her mourn- 

 ful odes. Here she tumbles, there she flops, yonder 

 she runs, but ever away from her nest! Her mate 

 also adds to the performance by inniima^aMe aerial 

 gyrations which aid in distraxrting the attention of 

 the observer from a near-by nest where the little 

 ones are hopelessly exposed in the Ihin grass. 



Many shore-haniiting birds have devised methods 

 of hiding their eggs. The guiUanot makes no nest^ 

 but lays one e^ in a hole in the side of a diff. The 

 ringed dotterel makes her n^t on a bank of debris 

 and sticks the eggs up on end so as to resemble drift- 

 wood. Partridges and pheasants usually lay their 

 eggs on dark leaves, and of ttimes cover them wbesi 

 they go away. The water ouzel builds a domed nest 

 which looks like a bunch of green moss. The gold- 

 crest swings her delicate hanging-nest among the 

 long, drooping pine boughs, where it is very diffi- 

 cult to find. 



The e^gs and plumage of certain game birds are 

 yery difficult to detect from their surroxmdings. The 

 snipe has a poidlled plumage whidi is hard to dis- 

 cern among the brown marshes where the bird is 

 found. The woodcock's leaf-strewn nest may be 



