44 BRITISH BIRDS' NESTS. 



streak in the centre of each feather. Wing-quills 

 black, spotted and marked with light brown on the 

 inner w^ebs. Lower back and rnmp white, marked 

 by a few dusky spots. Upper tail-coverts wdiite, 

 marked with dark brown ; tail-feathers barred with 

 dull yellowish- white and dark brown. Chin white ; 

 throat and upper part of breast very pale brown, 

 marked with dark brown streaks ; lower part of 

 breast, belly, vent, and under tail-coverts white, 

 spotted on the two first, with blackish-brown and 

 a dusky streak or two on the latter. Legs long, 

 and, like the toes, blaish-grey in colour. 



The female is similar in plumage, but is larger, 

 sometimes even to the extent of five inches in 

 length. 



Situation and Locality. — On the ground amongst 

 long, coarse grass, tufts of rushes and heath ; some- 

 times quite exposed on bare ground. On rough, 

 undrained pasture land, moors, and uplands in the 

 West and North of England, Wales, Scotland, and 

 Ireland. Our illustration is from a photograph 

 taken on the Westmoreland Hills, where these birds 

 are very common. We found a couple of nests 

 within a few yards of each other, the one containing 

 tw^o, and the other three eggs ; and the specimen 

 figuring on the page opposite was only just over 

 the wall in an adjoining pasture. 



Materials. — k few short bits of dead rushes, 

 withered grass, or dead leaves, placed in some small 

 declivity ; sometimes nothing whatever. 



Eggs. — Four, sometimes only three, varying 

 from olive- green to brownish-buff in ground colour, 

 spotted and blotched with dark green and blackish- 

 brown. Size about '2'65 by 1\S5 in. 



Time. — April, May, and beginning of June 

 sometimes. 



