SPRING-TIME ON THE MOORS 51 



they will be lying concealed close by, having- just slipped 

 out on the approach of danger. This, of course, only 

 applies to their early days. 



Golden plovers seldom nest among - covert — i.e., their 

 nest is on shortest grass or heather, often on bare or 

 burnt ground. There is no attempt at concealment. 

 On being approached, one plover will rise straight from 

 her eggs, 200 yards away ; another slinks off, creeping 

 away unseen ; more rarely, she will rise from her eggs 

 (even though freshly-laid) almost at one's feet. The 

 young run as soon as hatched, but are long in acquiring 

 the power of flight, and retain the golden down on their 

 necks when full-grown, as any grouse-shooter may see 

 in August. 



Peewits breed in thousands on the lower ground ; but 

 not on the high moorland beloved of curlew and plover. 

 The first week of April, by the way, is the time for 

 finding their eggs. Snipe nest at all elevations, on hill 

 or vale. Their nests are well concealed under a dry tuft 

 of grass or heather, and the old bird sits close. Snipe 

 are somewhat irregular in date of laying. I have found 

 young snipes unable to fly, on August 12th; and, on the 

 other hand, have known of a nest as early as March 19th, 

 and of young snipes on the wing by the end of April. 



The stockdove lays her two eggs in the crags by 

 April 20th, but (like all the pigeon-tribe) compensates for 

 shortage in numbers by breeding continuously all through 

 the summer, fresh eggs being laid up to the end of June. 

 A few twigs of birch or heather serve for the nest, save 

 in vertical crevices, where more material is needed for a 

 foundation — unless jackdaws have previously filled the 

 hole with sticks, as their habit is. One nest, on May 7th, 

 we found in a different situation — under an immense 



