86 



HARDWJCKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



nest of the golden plover, or curlew {^V. arqiiata), for 

 both these birds are but sparsely distributed over 

 these hills. We generally had a pair or two of curlews 

 flying after and around us ; their incessant cries 

 plainly expressing resentment at our intrusion, and 

 distrust of our intentions. I took three eggs from a 

 nest built on a level spot on the hillside, close to a 

 small pool of water. They are very large, pear- 

 shaped, and of a greenish hue, blotched with shades of 

 darker green and dark brown. I also procured eggs 

 from two other nests, of which the shepherds had 

 indicated to us the whereabouts. 



Fig. 63. — Kestrels (Fako tinmcncithis). 



Nearly all the time we were on Fairsnape we were 

 accompanied by twelve or fourteen swifts (C. apus), 

 which the shepherds call" long wings" and " devil- 

 skirlers." They kept whirling round and round us, 

 dashing down and snapping up the numerous insects 

 disturbed by our passage through the heather. 

 Several times they came so close as almost to brush 

 our hats with their long wings, and kept uttering 

 their wild and peculiar squealing notes. I was 

 pleased to have such a good opportunity of observing 

 and admiring their wonderful powers of wing as they 

 gamboled around us. The following day, I procured 



some of their elongated white eggs from an old out- 

 barn, where some six or eight pairs had nested for 

 years. They were very difficult to get at, and only 

 by wrenching out a large stone with a crowbar, was I 

 enabled to fish out two eggs, with the aid of a 

 teaspoon tied to a stick. I have noticed many swifts- 

 breeding in clefts in the rocks, in the quarries on. 

 Longridge Fell. 



We now made the best of our way across fells 

 covered with ling, and whin, and bracken fern, and 

 heaps of stones, amongst which the bilberry grew 

 plentifully, towards a clough leading into the Lang- 

 don valley, which my com- 

 panion said " swarmed with 

 birds of all sorts." On our 

 way we saw two pairs of 

 twites (Z. moiithivi), but, 

 although we searched long 

 and carefully, we did not 

 find a nest. Amongst the 

 furze we found several nests 

 of linnet (Z. cannabiua) and 

 here and there came across- 

 several pairs of stonechats 

 [S. rnbkola) and whin-chats^ 

 (.S". rubetra). The stonechat 

 is not very common here, 

 and I have had a difficulty 

 in procuring local specimens 

 of its eggs ; but the whinchat 

 may be called common, and 

 we found three nests, each 

 containing six bluish- green, 

 eggs, slightly specked with 

 dull red, chiefly at the larger 

 end. The nest is not easy 

 to find, unless you first startle 

 the bird off it, and is usually 

 placed upon the ground, at 

 the foot of a low bush, or in 

 a tuft of dead fern or long 

 grass. Many patches of 

 swampygroundwere crossed, 

 in which that curious little 

 midge-trap, the round-leaved 

 sundew, grows abundantly. 

 These swampy spots are 

 frequented by many snipes {S. gallinago), several 

 nests of which we came across, built in rushy tufts. 

 My companion was very expert in finding them, and 

 also those of the lapwing ( V. cristatus), which swarnx 

 on the grassy slopes of the fells. We could easily, if 

 we cared, have filled all our boxes, &c., with lap- 

 wings' eggs. We were always accompanied by a 

 noisy crowd of them, when we came too near their 

 nesting grounds. On these slopes were numerous- 

 pipits (A. pratensis). We found several nests, in one 

 of which was a young cuckoo (C. canorus). I was- 

 much amused to watch its spiteful efforts to peck the 



