16 APRIL 1954, Page 12

Country Life

As I crossed the fence a curlew rose and went calling and complaining over the hill. I thought very little about it until the second bird rose and then I began to consider a possible nesting place. After a while I dis- covered that one of the birds had returned. It was standing on some boggy ground watching me. I kept still and it picked its way through rushes and gorse until I lost sight of it. Sonic time passed. I saw the other bird sweep back over the hill. It stood as the first had done, but I was sure it was acting as sentry for its mate. When I moved in that direction both birds took to the air. After this had happened three or four times during the afternoon I was reasonably sure of the locality of the nest and left the lakeside to investigate. The nest proved to be where I had thought it to be, but there were no eggs. The little depression in the dead grass was all I found after much trouble. Tomorrow the hen would lay. I was fairly sure of that, but tomorrow I would not be there.