SANDPIPERS 175 
its way along the brook, heading up the stream: 
Notice that it has a habit of dipping its tail after 
the manner of the Wagtails, but not nearly so grace- 
fully. It seems to be always trying to balance itself. 
You will see it is bigger and, to my mind, more 
awkward than the Wagtails, and it is not nearly so 
gaily clad. I am told that the Sandpiper spends its 
winters in Africa, and visits us about the end of 
April. Just think of the miles that bird has flown, 
and what a traveller it is! Common Sandpipers do 
not nest in this district, but their nests are com- 
monly found farther north and in Scotland. Don’t 
you remember the great numbers of this bird that 
we saw on the west coast of Scotland in June, 1910 ? 
I wished to photograph one of their nests, but had 
great difficulty in finding one, although I knew there 
were plenty about. These birds are very cunning 
about their nests. If disturbed while sitting, they fly 
away very silently and with a peculiar kind of flight. 
When they get some distance away they utter weird 
sort of cries, which are intended to mislead a hunter 
for their eggs or young. They seem to say, “ Here’s 
the nest! MHere’s the nest!” and an unskilled 
searcher is often led to look for an hour where the 
nest is not. You may depend upon it that the nest 
is always some distance from the “ weet-weeting ” 
Sandpipers; they are deceivers ever. Someone 
said, ‘* All men are liars.”” Such a statement would 
be highly true of these birds. I did not, with all 
my searching, have the honour of finding a Sand- 
piper’s nest, but two were pointed out to me by a 
girl who’had blundered across them ; so I got my 
photograph, and a good one, too. The nests are 
