138 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



a little the hen ran (or walked) away, leaving the cock, who rolled 

 a little more before leaving the place. 



In the above notes I have laid more stress upon the peculiar 

 movements which precede and accompany the rolling of the bird 

 than upon the actual rolling itself, by which I have named the 

 whole performance. It must be remembered, however, that I 

 watched it through powerful glasses, by which means all the 

 actions become plainly visible, and take their proper proportion. 

 But to the ordinary casual spectator it is different. He is at 

 some distance ; he has only his own eyes, and he is quite 

 uninterested. Under these circumstances it is the general 

 features that alone strike him, or, to speak more correctly, 

 are at last by sheer necessity forced upon his observation. 

 The main features, here, are that the bird sits for some time 

 together with its breast pressed into the sand, augmenting 

 the pressure by various more or less pronounced movements 

 of the body, and that many little cup-shaped depressions, 

 but a small proportion of which ever have eggs laid in them, 

 are to be found about over the warrens and other such Peewit- 

 haunted parts that are open and loose-soiled, during the early 

 spring-time. All the rest — the curious little run forward 

 with its strange, set attitude, the peculiar motions of the tail, 

 everything minute and intricate — is unremarked, even though 

 it be actually seen. As for the actual pairing of the birds, 

 with the curious little drama between them which follows, this 

 must be patiently watched for in the early and often bitterly 

 cold morning — that, at least, is the only time that one can be 

 tolerably sure of its taking place. 



In none of the above instances did I walk to examine the 

 places where the birds had rolled, after they had left them. 

 They would, indeed, have been difficult to find ; but upon 

 another occasion, when the circumstances made this easy, I 

 did so, and found, as I say, just such a little round basin 

 in the sand as the eggs are laid in. No eggs, however, were 

 ever laid here,* whilst the bird was afterwards to be seen rolling 

 in other parts. It is easy, under such circumstances, to keep 

 one Peewit, or, at least, one pair of them, distinct from others, 



:;: They would, of course, only be laid in one such depression) which 

 would then become the nest proper. 



