On Heaths and Marshes. 121 



their protective colours ensure. These eggs are buff 

 in ground colour, blotched, spotted, or streaked with 

 brown and gray of various shades. We ought also to 

 mention, by the way, that the artful bird selects, as a 

 rule, some little eminence for its breeding-place, where 

 it can command a good view of approaching danger 

 and slip quietly away. We have heard countrymen 

 insist that the Stone Curlew will remove its eggs if it 

 becomes aware that they have been discovered, but 

 we cannot vouch for the accuracy of the statement. 



We occasionally meet with three of our most 

 familiar Game Birds upon the heaths; perhaps we 

 mig^ht add a fourth, as we include Lincolnshire in 

 our area of the northern shires, for there is some 

 evidence to suggest that the alien Red-legged Part- 

 ridge is invading the latter county. On many heaths 

 the English Partridge lives at the present time, and 

 the harsh crow of the Pheasant is by no means an 

 unfamiliar sound in these localities, especially when 

 they adjoin covers. This latter bird is a confirmed 

 wanderer, given to straying far from its usual haunts. 

 W^e have repeatedly noticed fine old cock birds on 

 the moors, miles from coverts. Whether these wan- 

 derers ever interbreed with the Grouse we cannot 

 say, and we are not aware that hybrids between 

 these species have ever been obtained or recorded. 

 Lastly, the Black Grouse has a weakness for the 

 heaths, especially in localities where a belt of timber 



