BRITISH BIRDS' NESTS. 



that were nearly as cup-shaped as the nest of the 

 Chaffinch, and in which the four eggs were almost 

 standing on their sharp ends. Amongst fringe moss, 

 coarse grass, and short heather in the rough moorland 

 and wild boggy parts of Somerset and Devon, the 

 north of England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland. 



Materials. A few pieces of dry grass, rushes, 

 or heather-tops, forming a lining to the hollow of 

 the nest. 



Eggs. Four, pear-shaped, yellowish stone or 

 cream colour, blotched and spotted with umber- 

 brown and blackish-brown. They are larger than 

 those of the Lapwing, not quite so pyriform, and 

 lack the olive tinge in their ground-colour. The 

 birds also nest, as a rule, on higher and wilder 

 ground. Size about 2.07 by 1.4 in. (See Plate VII.) 



Time. May and June. 



Remarks. Resident, but subject to local and 

 partial migration. Notes : tlui, and taludl, taludl, 

 taludl, the first note being uttered with low and 

 melancholy deliberation and the latter hurriedly. 

 Local and other names : Yellow Plover, Whistling 

 Plover. Does not sit very closely as a rule ; how- 

 ever, I have known the bird do so before incubation 

 was far advanced, and feign a broken wing in order 

 to decoy the intruder away. 



GOLDEN PLOVER ON NEST. 



