Northern Observations of Inland Birds 43 



life is in full swing. The challenges of the red grouse 

 ring across the slopes, faintly answered by the strange, 

 vibrating notes of the hen birds. High over the rushes 

 a snipe is wheeling in mid-heaven, uttering his " chipp- 

 churr '' love note as he flies, and now and then the elusive, 

 musical sound of his drumming is wafted down as he 

 pitches giddily earthwards. A redshank hangs on quiver- 

 ing wings above the moorland pool, his restless, tentative 

 flight as well as the low, persistent notes he utters — 

 utters for hours on end, till the melancholy of it nearly 

 drives one mad — are peculiar to this season. The curlews 

 are flying, alighting, calling, calling, vastly conspicuous 

 as they fly, but vanishing like vapour as they alight, so 

 closely does nature guard her kindred by their colouring ; 

 and the curlews too utter many strange notes peculiar to 

 this season. As the days pass by, these birds become more 

 and more restless, till it is indeed a sight to watch their 

 powers of flight. They are the most anxious and restless 

 of all our hill birds, and their solicitude seems to embrace 

 all the other wild kindred of the range. Longer in the 

 leg than the rest, their eyes set high up in the head, they 

 are the first to give the warning, and should it be unheeded 

 by any other bird or beast they seem to go half mad with 

 anxiety, dashing hither and thither around the heedless 

 one with cries of the utmost desperation. 



The manoeuvres of the male curlew while he watches 

 over his wife sitting her eggs are fascinating to watch, 

 for this bird has many unique gifts in the way of flight. 

 Rising vertically on lashing wings, he hovers in mid- 

 heaven like a gigantic humming bird, wheels at prodigious 

 speed, then comes wafting vertically earthwards with 

 wings erect, night-jar or buzzard fashion. The bird's 

 hawk-like flight at this season has given rise in many 

 localities to the belief that it is an egg stealer, and this 

 belief dies hard. Certainly the flight of the curlew during 



