MOORLAND BIRDS 67 



sitting birds. Taken thus by surprise, they will rise directly 

 from the nest ; and at least one nest can usually be marked 

 down infallibly, while a sufficiently good notion can often be 

 secured of one or two more, especially in the case of plovers 

 mating in colonies, to make it not difficult to find them. If 

 the hunter approaches over a gradually rising skyline, the 

 sitting bird is almost certain to see him gradually looming 

 into view long before he can see the small form crouched on 

 the wide waste. Sometimes we may catch sight of the bird 

 in the act of running from its nest ; it will be distinguishable 

 from other birds running on the moor by its stealthy haste 

 and directness. Then the nest may sometimes be found by 

 disregarding the bird further, noting the path by which it 

 came, and following it backwards in a straight line. A year 

 or two ago, in Wales, we saw a curlew run more than eighty 

 yards from left to right across the line of our advance, before 

 taking to flight exactly in the opposite direction from the 

 nest ; the nest, still empty, was thirty-six yards back from the 

 point at which the bird was first seen running. 



The curlew's nest is a shallow depression, as large as 

 the largest dinner-plate ; on many moors it is fairly thickly 

 lined with the grass which makes the 'white ground,' and the 

 four large olive-green eggs, with their darker spots, make a 

 fine appearance in the nest. It is the rule with this whole 

 tribe of waders and marsh-birds to lay their four eggs point 

 to point, like a four-leaved shamrock. They pack neatly 

 together, owing to their pointed shape ; and as the young 

 birds are hatched well grown and active, and the eggs are 

 consequently very large for the size of the bird, it is possible 

 that this symmetrical arrangement helps a small bird to brood 

 and cover amply a large set of eggs. Yet the rule is not 

 invariable ; we have seen a plover's nest in which one of the 

 four eggs was lying quite unsymmetrically, and had been 



