142 
ai-len’s naturalist's library. 
up the watching game and commenced a search. At last we 
found out the secret of the birds’ behaviour. We picked up 
some broken egg-shells, and concluded at once that the bird 
had young. We tried to find them, but in vain. The two 
hours, however, were not wasted. The birds came nearer to 
me than they had ever done before. I often watched them at 
a distance of not more than ten yards, and was able to hear 
their notes more distinctly. The note most frequently used 
is a single plaintive whistle, ‘kdp,’ long drawn out, the b pro- 
nounced as in (lerman, and the consonants scarcely sounded. 
This, I am almost sure, is the alarm-note; it is principally 
uttered by the female when she stops and looks round, and sees 
something of which she disapproves. If the male shows any 
anxiety about the nest, which he seems to do more and more 
as incubation progresses, he also utters the same note. The 
double note kl-ce or klcep, the kl dwelt upon so as to make 
it a separate syllabic, is also uttered by both birds. It is 
evidently their call-note. I have seen the female, when she 
has been running away from the male, turn sharp round and 
look towards him when he has uttered this note, exactly as 
anyone might do who heard his name called. Whilst we were 
watching this pair of birds, a couple of other Grey Plovers 
came up and called as they flewi>ast. The male anssvered the 
call and flew towards them. On the wing this whistle is 
lengthened out to three notes. I had some difficulty in catch- 
ing this note exactly. It is not so often uttered as the two 
others I have mentioned, and is generally heard when you 
least expect it ; but I am almost sure that it is a combination 
of the alarm-note with the call-note — kl-ee-kop." 
Then he relates how the tenth nest was procured, and a 
very good idea is conveyed of the discomforts attending even 
the discovery of a much desired egg. “ By this time we were 
pretty ivell tired with tramping the tundra. The ceaseless 
persecution of the mosquitoes, and the stifling feeling caused 
by our having to wear a veil with the thermometer above 
summer heat, had taxed our powers of endurance almost to 
the utmost, and we turned our faces resolutely towards our 
boat, but a most anxious pair of Grey Plovers proved too 
great an attraction for us to resist,” &c. (cf. Seebohm, Hist. 
Brit. B. iii. p. 53), and to this book one must turn if we want 
