26 BIRD LIFE ON ISLAND AND SHORE 
clutches. This habit of mind, primarily induced 
no doubt by climatic vicissitudes, has apparently 
been extended to include any disaster such as 
spoliation by man. It is certainly of assistance 
to the breed. 
The structure of nests varies with environment. 
I have found them among the wiry seaside grasses 
of dunes and links really well built. On the 
other hand, the eggs sometimes lie bare or almost 
bare in a depression among naked stones. They 
are not symmetrically arranged as are the eggs 
of many species ; the pointed ends do not elegantly 
meet in the centre of the nest. They lie as they 
are reproduced in the illustrations, untidily, with 
no attempt at neat stowage. They vary from 
three to four—oftenest four; their ground colour 
is a deep brown, with dark spots chiefly on the 
thick ends. 
Amongst species cunning to beguile intruders, 
there are none whose methods of simulated injury 
and death are more strange and bizarre than those 
of the Pied Stilt. Dancing, prancing, galumphing 
over one spot of ground, the stricken bird seems 
simultaneously to jerk both legs and wings, as 
strange toy beasts can be agitated by elastic 
wires, the extreme length of the bird’s legs pro- 
ducing extraordinary effects. It gradually becomes 
less and less able to maintain an upright attitude. 
Lassitude, fatigue, weariness, faintings—lackadai- 
