VOL. VI.] SPRING-NOTES ON THE BORDERS. 115 



counteract by selecting the wetter and *' squashier " 

 spots where few human foes dare to venture. Still 

 these nests are always further " inland " — that is, not 

 nearly so far out in the dangerous floating-bog as are 

 those of Pochards a month later. Other sites are in 



SHOVELERS-NEWLY ARRIVED. 



(An impression at Grindon Lough, March 28.) 



{Drawn by A. Chapman.) 



the mosses and floes ; among heather, bents, or dwarf - 

 willow — exceptionally in a young fir-plantation, one such 

 nest being over a quarter-mile from the loch. 



jA.11 the above references to Wigeon and Pochard, it 

 will be noticed, refer exclusively to the Scottish side of 

 the Border. In Northumberland I have hitherto failed 

 to establish the breeding of either of these, though feeling 

 assured it is only a matter of a year or two, since both 

 species have latterly lingered on our moorland loughs 

 till well on in spring. In 1911, several separated pairs 

 of Wigeon (as well as one pair of Pintails — the latter 

 species never once observed on the Scottish side) remained 

 on Grindon Lough until May 9th — by which date they 

 were already overdue to have eggs. This year (1912) 



