COMMON SAN 1) PI PE li. 
A^eie continually tailing victims, flics or other insects that settled on the baits proliably attractino- them 
to (1.0 spot. A man who lookc.l over a part of the ground declared that at least a dozen Sandniners 
had been destroyed on his heat in less tlian a week. ^ ^ 
The C.>mmon Sandpiper swims well, and is an exeellent diver when wounded. I have watched nianv 
an mexpenenoed sportsman g.catly excited hy his frantic and unavailing efforts to secure a winded 
h.rd which had fallen close to his boat. Each time he stretched over to grasp the active swimmoi” it 
won d p ungo under, with the case and rapidity of a Guillemot, and. ducking from one side of the craft 
to the other, would frequently succeed in evading capture. Unless winged. I Inavo only on one or two 
occasions noticed an adult taking to the water, though now and then they might be seen in the act of 
padding aetoss some small pool or creek along the river-side hy which they fed. While flshin- on the 
Lymn, m Porthslure, tn June 1807, a Merlin made a sudden dash at a Sandpiper skimming across The river 
uith.n twenty yards of where 1 stood. Instantly tho bird dived below the surface, and did not enier.>„ 
„ m till tho shelter of some stunted willow hushes (whose branches overhung the water) had he™ 
leaciei loicing my way an hour later through tho thick cover to roach a pool lower down the river 
I distnrhed, m an open space, some living creature that appeared, as it rapidly threaded its way amoim 
the shrubs aud plants, to be either a rat or a rabbit. On searching closely I came upon the nest of a 
and, nper with four eggs, and doubtless it was the parent bird that had attracted my attention A 
collector of eggs who happened to bo present was anxious to secure tho clutch as specimens" and immodiat; 
steps were taken to ensure the safety of his treasures till our return from fishing. A stoat or To 1 ad 
shmvn themselves in a stone dyke near the river-bank, and, in order to guard against an attack rthese 
estiuetive animats, a covering of coarse grass was first laid across the nest, and next a heap of saL and 
small stones was cautiously spread over to the depth of several inches. Late in the evening on makiim 
our way to romovo the eggs we were much astonished on diseoveriiig that the bird had rcTured to S 
“‘T ““ -‘I -0 e-s and ivas 
o * 
The young swim as soon as they leave tho nest and are capable of running along the hanks of the 
displ“.ed'' by 'tlTold hiim'sT*'"^ *'fT 
the wa t ben ath L roe, of r '“'™ ia 
wn. , overhanging slab of rock to which they had made their 
wa>, hy diving or swimming, on the first signs of dan-er ^ 
With the pur,^^i o f L hrear “h hhl 'if” 
arrow-heads, are clearly 1101 aid tta ““ f r ’^-‘'■I-oiatod 
niavkings on the haek,"the ^ Z ^ 
speckled and streaked with dTbSi The T t ^ f"'"’ 
Umes hy the action of tho wf ™ at 
