42 Northern Observations of Inland Birds 



— the species is almost as remarkable as the sourdough 

 toughs of the Upper Yukon river ! 



I remember a very mystifying experience with regard 

 to a young lapwing. Among the first feathers that the 

 chick grows, before it is able to fly, are some of a certain 

 shade which are much treasured by the anglers of my 

 particular locality for the dressing of a certain fly. Finding 

 a young lapwing in a field one evening I placed him in 

 my fishing basket, which was of rather an unusual kind, 

 in that the hole through which the fish were dropped 

 was provided with a hinged lid. Having captured the 

 young lapwing I carefully closed this only way of exit, 

 intending to take him home and remove the treasured 

 feathers with a pair of scissors, after which he would be 

 returned to his native field. Arriving home I opened 

 the basket but — no lapwing ! The hinged lid was securely 

 fastened down, and though the minutest examination 

 was made, the means by which he had escaped could not 

 be discovered. Nor, to this day, have I been able to arrive 

 at any possible solution to the mystery. 



So the coming of the lapwings is to the people of the 

 hills what the coming of the swallows is to the people 

 of the flat country. With the curlews and the redshanks 

 and the golden plovers they are our first migrants, and 

 thereafter the long silence of winter is dispelled by many 

 cheery voices. For, strange to relate, spring comes to 

 the bleak heights so far as bird life is concerned long 

 before it dawns in the more sheltered regions. The birds 

 of our hills — the grouse, the ravens, the plovers, the 

 curlews, are the first to breed, and by the time the birds 

 of the valleys are just beginning their family affairs, 

 those of the heathered slopes are well advanced. 



Visit the moors very early in the morning in the month 

 of March, while winter still reigns supreme, and you will 

 find that here on the hills the mating season of the bird 



