128 BIRD LIFE IN WILD WALES 



home we found five Robins' nests, two containing 

 young, the other three eggs. One nest, besides 

 being well enough hidden, was further concealed by 

 a piece of withered wild strawberry leaf; but can this 

 have been intentional or accidental ? The eggs were 

 fresh, and the bird certainly could not have entered 

 the nest without first removing the leaf. Nobody, I 

 think, about here, would have troubled to put a piece 

 of leaf over a nest. To-day I heard from young G., 

 who tells me that when examining the Buzzard's nest 

 in S. wood, he noticed three birds soaring above him. 

 Probably the third was passing at the time, and hear- 

 ing the cries of the aggrieved couple, had dropped in 

 to see what was going on. He says that there are 

 now fifteen eggs in the Heronry, and he also has 

 found an Owl's nest, no species mentioned, but pro- 

 bably a Brown Owl, in one of W.'s woods. Besides 

 three Owlets, this nest contained the remains of a 

 a squirrel, a Thrush and a Blackbird. 



May Day. In the morning climbed the hill above 

 my house, investigated the country in a south-westerly 

 direction. Found a Peewit's nest with four eggs, and 

 saw a few Curlews and Grouse. These latter should 

 be nesting now, or at all events very shortly, but Red 

 Grouse depend more on the weather for laying than 

 any other bird, and as the present spring is exceed- 

 ingly inclement, they will probably be somewhat 

 backward. 



Visited the dingle where I discovered the Raven's 

 nest on April I5th. We worked the stream right up 

 from its confluence with the main river, and our first 

 find was a Dipper's nest, from which the young (the 



