304 
CHARADRIIDiE. 
consisted of nothing more than the dropping leaves of 
the juniper bush, under a creeping branch of which the 
eggs, four in number, were snugly concealed and admi¬ 
rably sheltered from the many storms by which these 
bleak and exposed rocks are visited, allowing just suffi¬ 
cient room for the bird to cover them. 
We afterwards found several more nests with little 
difficulty, although requiring a very close search. In 
sailing amongst the many islands with which this coast 
is everywhere studded, we had no difficulty in ascer¬ 
taining those on which we should prove successful, and 
were frequently led to the spot from a distance by the 
extreme anxiety and pugnacity evinced by this bird in 
its attacks upon the larger sea-fowl, especially Richard¬ 
son's skua, the egg-devouring enemy of other sea-birds. 
The several nests that we examined, with the exception 
of two, were placed in similar situations to the one 
described; one of these was under a slanting stone? 
the other without any covering whatever, upon the 
bare rock. They all contained four eggs; some of 
them more pointed, and less suffused with colour than 
the plate ;**some much like eggs of the common snipe; 
but all having a beautiful tint of purple or crimson 
seen in few other e££s. 
