Chirps and 
Chatter. 
(141) THE BIRD WORLD. 
Nesting of the Sandpiper. 
At Invergarry the common Sandpipers 
are very numerous, and they breed at 
this season all along the shores of loch 
and river. Of all nests these appear to 
be the least concealed or in any way 
protected. The Sandpiper calmly lines 
a chance depression in the ground with 
a little fine dried grass, and therein lays 
her four beautifully varnished eggs of 
buff-colour, speckled and spotted with 
reddish-brown, and leaves them, without 
shadow of concealment, exposed to the 
view of any passer-by. The fact that 
they are so seldom seen and so very 
easily overlooked is reany (as in the 
case of the Plover) due to protective 
colouring. Once discovered, tne beauti¬ 
ful little round nest, set perhaps amid 
stalks of bracken, beneath oak and 
birch trees, with its four rather large 
eggs, seems so obvious that one cannot 
imagine how it escaped notice, but its 
real inconspicuousness is shown by the 
following facts. Along the Garry River 
runs a path which is regularly kept up, 
and is frequented by visitors in the hotel 
and many others. On the low bank at 
the side of this path a Sandpiper has 
just hatched out her brood. Her nest 
was absolutely open to view, and situated 
about three feet up the bank, so that, 
the path being narrow, the cloak of a 
passer-by might literally have brushed 
the small cup-shaped nest. 
The Tiger Bird. 
The Tiger Bird, so called because he 
is the one thing the royal beast of India 
fears, is no larger than the English 
sparrow. Yet so bold and combative is 
he that if the great cat is surprised by a 
sufficient number of the little creature’s 
kind far from the protecting shelter of 
the jungle, it will go hard with him. 
When alone the bird will not attack. 
Supported by a flock of friends, how¬ 
ever, often numbering several thousand, 
the bird will seek out his hereditary foe 
and give battle. On such occasions the 
tiger seeks safety in flight. A hand 
thrust into a cage filled with these little 
gamesters will elicit a furious assault 
from their combined forces. Assembled 
en masse they know no fear. 
The Meadow Pipit’s Ways. 
Some birds migrate a great deal more 
than is commonly supposed. The 
Meadow Pipit is one of these. It is 
abundant with us both in summer and 
winter, and whenever you walk in either 
season through the fat pastures which 
lie beside the meandering trout stream or 
over the salt marshes with their be¬ 
wildering maze of muddy dykes, the 
slender double pipe of the Pipit ac¬ 
companies you all the way, and you see 
it bobbing in flight along the margin of 
the stream or flitting just before you 
from one dyke to another. In either 
case the bird has a pretty trick of drop¬ 
ping suddenly, like a stone, into the 
shelter of the bank—a trick learned, no 
doubt, by its ancestors for the avoid¬ 
ance of Hawks; for the Pipit’s habits 
lead them into open spaces with rough 
herbage, whence the little bird on rising 
at any time may find a swift-winged 
Hawk much nearer than is pleasant. 
Then, with a dip of his flight, the Pipit 
vanishes, and, though the Hawk may 
beat the hedgebank up and down, his 
chance of seeing that little earth- 
coloured bird cowering under a turf of 
herbage is small. 
Hybridism in Wild Life. 
At Austwith Hall, on June 13th, the 
gardener made a strange discovery. He 
says :— u I found a Blackbird’s nest 
with four eggs, sitting. Later on I shot 
the hen Blackbird, within five yards of 
the nest. I picked the bird up, and on 
looking up at the nest I was astonished 
to see a male Thrush sitting on it. I 
thought it very peculiar, but did not 
disturb it just then, but afterwards I 
saw the nest with no bird on, and on 
looking in, what was my surprise to see 
a nest partly lined with mud. It was 
a half Thrush and half Blackbird nest, 
and what I had disturbed was evidently 
a natural cross. In a few days the 
eggs hatched out, the male Thrush 
sitting all the time. The young birds 
did all right for about five days, but, to 
my sorrow, one morning I found them 
all dead from cold.” 
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