110 
THE DUNLIN. 
surface of the "water, now rising liigli above tlie breakers, and 
then shooting far off to sea, to visit a distant part of the 
coast? HoAv often in visiting a sedgy pool, surrounded with 
marshes, have we been saluted, but in no friendly wise, by 
the shrill clamour of the long-billed and sharp-winged 
birds, which had placed their nests on tufts too remote to 
be reached ! Again, on the long range of heathery hills 
that we had traversed for many a weary mile, we have 
come, very unexpectedly to us, and with no welcome from 
its occupants, upon the nest of the lonely Curlew, which 
fluttered from among our feet in silence and terror, imtil 
reaching a safe distance, she began to entice us away from 
her treasure by displaying a broken wing, and shattered leg 
— taught, in fact, by instinct, to act a palpable im truth. 
Many pleasant sights we have seen in these solitary ram- 
bles — here the four spotted eggs of the Dunlin, so like in 
colour to the surrounding ground, that you wonder how 
the eye has distinguished them — here the timid young of 
the same bird squatted among the short heath — here a 
flock of Godwits, thrusting their long bills into the sand ; 
and, again, the gliding and low flights of the beautiful 
white-breasted Tattler, as skimming by the margin of the 
great lake it emits its shrill and reiterated cries.* 
DrNLIX. 
The Black-breasted Sandpipek, or Dcxlin {Trmcja 
Cinclus). — As the typical birds of the family, v/e commence 
