SUMMER ON THE MOORS 101 



rostris) among" the heather on Lanshot Hill, Elsdon. 

 There were two egg's and two small young. It is puzzling 

 to see the whitish eggs of a linnet where one only expects 

 the sombre product of a titlark. We found another twite's 

 nest, largely composed of sheep's wool, with nearly- 

 fledged young (fawn-coloured, and noticeably paler below 

 than the adults) on Elsdon Hillhead, July 30th. The twite 

 is typical of the moorland ; but is nowhere abundant, 

 and easily overlooked. Indeed, there is no nest more 

 difficult to find. The linnet-like song, however, is a 

 sufficient index to a well-attuned ear, and almost the only 

 means of locating the few breeding pairs, widely scattered 

 over the moors. We had previously, as before-men- 

 tioned, found a nest, with five eggs, on Monkridge, May 

 21st; another, under a tuft of bell-heather, on Hartside, 

 Cheviot, on May 29th. The twite also nests on Warks- 

 fell, above Houxty. The lesser redpoll is a some- 

 what similar bird, but breeds at lower elevations — 

 among the alder woods, and in. thick osier-beds along 

 the burns. We have found eggs as early as May, and 

 again at the end of June ; so that this species (as well 

 as the twite) probably breeds twice. These nests are 

 beautifully lined with catkins and thistle-down, and one 

 contained a feather of a kestrel. 



The corn-bunting {Emberiza miliaria) is not a' bird 

 of the moorland — alpine or subalpine — but one or two 

 pairs come every summer to a particular spot (close to 

 Wark church), and never another in the district. They 

 nest there in growing hay, and drone forth their monoton- 

 ous dirge with almost irritating persistency. 



The young ring-ouzels are full-feathered by mid- 

 summer; yet on June 17th another nest contained five 

 newly-laid eggs. 



