160 BIRD LIFE IN WILD WALES 



Summer Snipe from her nest containing two eggs. 

 In the next hundred yards I put another one up. 

 This nest held four very small and curiously marked 

 eggs, and was wonderfully concealed among bilberry 

 wires ; indeed, I spent some time looking for it, as I 

 did not flush the bird under my feet, but some yards 

 off. During my search the hen came back several 

 times, sitting alternately on a fence and the metals, 

 where she ran backwards and forwards in an agitated 

 manner, uttering a curious little note from time to 

 time. Visited the Blackcap's nest which W. found 

 the other day ; saw the male sitting on four eggs. 

 So closely did he sit that I was almost enabled to 

 stroke him before he took wing. One of the King- 

 fishers passed me like a lightning flash of orange and 

 azure, and I watched him settle on a bough -hanging 

 over the water, and shortly afterwards down he 

 plunged on the slant (a Kingfisher always plunges 

 on the slant) and brought up a small fish, probably a 

 minnow. Close here are the pair of Pied Flycatchers 

 I spoke of a few days back, but again they would not 

 reveal their secret. Continuing my way, however, I 

 examined the nest in the apple-tree and saw that 

 three eggs had been laid. In the same riverside 

 orchard I found a Redstart's home which had been 

 ruthlessly torn out of its site in the cavity of a pear- 

 tree ; and also a Marsh Tit's, containing one egg. I 

 waited for some time in order to identify the species, 

 for it is utterly impossible to tell the eggs of the Coal 

 Marsh and Blue Tits apart unless the parents are 

 watched to the nest. All the Tit family are very 

 wary at the nest, especially the species under notice, 



