SPRING-TIME ON THE MOORS 53 



truly typical if not of the moorland, at least of the foot- 

 hills and of the "fringe of the moor," must not be left 

 unnoticed. These are the whinchat and the redstart — 

 two little beauties, both of which may be looked for 

 during April. The 21st is my earliest note for the red- 

 start, 1 the 28th for the whinchat. Both are abundant. 

 The stonechat, on the contrary, is extremely local, and 

 quite unknown over wide areas of the Borders. It, 

 moreover, remains during - winter. 



Year after year at this season (mid-April), one 

 observes, while rambling with one's rod along. the burns, 

 the packs of golden plovers still frequenting the haughs 

 and lower grounds. By this date, the packed plovers 

 are visibly blacker beneath than the nesting pairs on the 

 hills above. One now ,also hears, among the packed 

 plovers, that loud wild spring-cry which I have before 

 rendered — Tirr-pee-you- — a sure index that they are 

 ready to depart. The breeding plovers no longer utter 

 this cry ; their note is now confined to the single plaintive 

 pipe and a peculiar rippling song, or warble that is 

 wholly undescribable. It is the joyous note of court- 

 ship, analogous with the drumming of snipe and peewit. 

 Most birds — dunlin, redshank, curlew, and many more — 

 have dual notes at this season, namely, their ordinary 

 notes of alarm or communication, and this ebulition 

 indicative of the exuberant spirit of the vernal season. 



Ten days later, I have the following note : — 

 April 27. — Though weather continues bitterly cold, and 

 the sting of the east wind has lost none of its marrow- 

 piercing venom, yet the packs of golden plovers have now 

 utterly disappeared from all the haughs. Not one remains 



1 I see that in 1892 I observed redstarts as early as April 14th, on the 

 Wansbeck ; and in 1895, on the 17th, at Kelso, on Tweed. 



