BIRD-LIFE ON THE MOORS IN MAY. 37 



their nests. The situations selected are the moist and rushy 

 slopes of the hills, where rough grass, or ferny and straggling 

 birch-woods begin to take the place of heather ; and one of 

 their greatest strongholds is the broad zone of rough undu- 

 lating prairie land, which lies subjacent to the moors proper 

 — in short, betwixt the heather and the corn.* Grrey-hens are 

 often singularly foolish or careless in their choice of a site ; 

 cue nest is in a clump of rushes immediately adjoining a stile 

 where men and dogs pass daily ; another in the bank thrown 

 up to form a sheep-washing pool on a burn ; both of which 

 were inevitably destroyed. The Grey commence sitting about 

 the middle of May. 



In 1877, we had a severe snowstorm early in May, lasting 

 some days. On the morning of the 4th, the snow lying 3 or 

 4 inches deep, I shot some Fieldfares, out of a large flock. 

 They remained about all that week, though in a fortnight's 

 time they would be due to have laid their eggs in Norway. 



May ItJi. — A single Golden-eye Duck still on the lough — 

 another northern breeding bird. The weather is now quite 

 warm and summer-like, and it seems late for so essentially a 

 winter duck to be lingering here ; but the fjeld lakes of Nor- 

 way, where it probably intends to breed, are still ice-bound, 

 and will remain so for another fortnight. This I happen to 

 know from personal experience ; my little diving friend knows 

 it equally w^ell from intuition or instinct. Hence it is in no 

 hurry to be off. 



We found to-day (May 7th) a Ring-Ouzel's nest on Leech- 

 ope ; another on the 13th, in Lanshot Scroggs, each with 4 

 eggs. The Ring-Ouzel is a typical moor-breeding bird ; it 

 passes through England in March, and arrives on the 

 northern fells in the final days of that month. It nests 

 pretty well all over the moorlands ; but the majority of pairs 



* To define the relative distribution of Grouse and Black-game in 

 spring, the former may be said to nest at the highest, the latter at 

 the lowest, points of their respective areas. Grouse in spring seek the 

 higher ground for nesting, and in autumn, so far as they move at all, 

 tend to shift downwaids ; while Black-game breed chiefly in the lowest 

 ground of moorland character, and as the young acquire strength in 

 autumn, tend to climb outwards to the higher fells. 



