Gyngell : A Naturalist's Holiday. 



161 



stood upright on his long, bare, red legs. But it was much too 

 late for Redshank eggs, so the sandhills were, again taken in 

 hand. 



The day being bright and fair, other features of the sandhills 

 now became apparent. In many places the ground was carpeted 

 with patches of a beautiful little Pansy, probably a variety of the 

 common field species, but of a rich blue colour. It was very 

 abundant, and in its growth more suggestive of garden beds 

 than a sandy desert. Another noticeable flower of the sandhills 

 was the Sea Campion, somewhat like the Bladder-Campion of 

 the fields, but of shorter growth. Wondering how these plants 

 obtained their sustenance from such an arid soil, I dug up 

 a pansy, and found the roots went straight down a foot through 

 the sand. 



Here, as on the north side, rabbits abound ; their burrows in 

 the bare sand occasionally provide a nesting-site for the Stock 

 Dove, a bird which readily accommodates itself to circumstances, 

 breeding in the cliffs of a rocky coast, or in hollow trees if it 

 inhabit a woodland district. Little or no nest is made, early or 

 late in the summer two white eggs are laid, and these are dis- 

 tinguishable from our other doves' eggs by their cream colour. 



One of the most interesting denizens of the sandhills is the 

 Sheldrake, and here several pairs seemed to be thoroughly at 

 home, feeding on the mud flats up the estuary and nesting in 

 the rabbit burrows, hence their common name 'Burrow Duck.' 

 In their piebald plumage of black, white, and chestnut they are 

 amongst our handsomest birds. I was much interested in their 

 peculiar droning song, uttered whilst flying together in small 

 parties. The ' dying duck in a thunderstorm ' is alleged to sing 

 with questionable merit, but the Sheldrake's crooning notes 

 certainly struck me as being somewhat melodious. I did not 

 on this occasion attempt to unearth the Sheld-duck from her 

 burrow, having with great labour once dug out a nest in 

 Somersetshire. This nest was four feet below the surface and 

 contained seventeen cream-coloured eggs, deposited in the usual 

 bed of down so commonly formed by ducks. I have known 

 a nest to be eight feet below the surface, and I have seen thirty- 

 two eggs which were taken by a friend of mine from one burrow, 

 and thus I am led to suppose that polygamy is not illegal with 

 Sheldrakes. 



On these sandhills another colony of the Common Torn was 

 found, occupying the lower slopes and summits just as in the 

 other colony. Here I found the nests rather more advanced, 



1902 May 1. 



