50 Among the Birds in Northern Shires. 



— the bird is so rare that Rodd knew of but a single 

 example, and that was obtained near Penzance. 

 Then ao^ain the bird is confined durino^ the breeding" 

 season exclusively to the British moors, with the 

 exception of the coast districts of Norway. From 

 the midlands of England northwards to the Shet- 

 lands, the Twite has its only summer residence with 

 us. We fear that we never appreciated the Twite 

 sufficiently when we lived so close to its haunts and 

 considered him too common for any special notice or 

 admiration. It is only after we have dwelt in dis- 

 tricts where he is unknown that we have begun to 

 regard him with exceptional attention; and now, 

 profiting by past experience, we never see him flit- 

 ting about the heather without giving a thought to 

 his localness. After all, he is a most interesting 

 little bird; and his pretty nest, cunningly concealed 

 amongst the tangled heath, possesses a rustic beauty 

 that well rewards one's patience for the often toil- 

 some search. It is a cup-shaped structure, made 

 externally of grass bents, twigs, and moss, the inside 

 w^armly lined with down from willow catkin and 

 cotton-grass, wool from the sheep that graze upon 

 the moors, and feathers. The five or six eggs are 

 very similar to those of the Linnet, pale bluish-green 

 spotted with reddish-browm and gray. The Twite 

 gets back to the moors in April, and its domestic 

 duties, accompanied by its weak little song, are per- 



