70 BIRDS OF LOCH AND MOUNTAIN 



the snow came, a Dipper had completed her nest 

 on a rock beside a tiny waterfall. On visiting this 

 during the storm I found no traces of the nest, 

 which was completely covered by a snow-wreath 

 several feet deep. 



For some days after arriving on the moors, the 

 Golden Plover remain in flocks, but most of them 

 have paired by the beginning of April. However, I 

 have more than once seen flocks during the latter 

 half of May, and this fact is difficult to account for. 

 On the low grounds, if the season be an early one, 

 the eggs are sometimes laid in April, but the principal 

 nesting month is undoubtedly May. 



The Golden Plover has a very wide range during 

 the nesting season, some pairs nesting almost at sea- 

 level, while the majority seem to prefer some grassy 

 hillside for a nesting haunt. On one mountain of 

 3,000 feet, the Golden Plover, Ptarmigan, Curlew, 

 and Lapwing not to mention the Wheatear and 

 Meadow Pipit all nest in perfect unity within a 

 stone's-throw of each other. In many respects 

 the Golden Plover differs widely from its near 

 relative, the Lapwing. Unlike the latter bird it never 

 as far as I know attacks Crows or other 

 birds which are on the look-out for its eggs or 

 young ; while the Lapwing will attack anything 

 that ventures near its nesting site from a Golden 

 Eagle down to a Starling. 



Again, the Lapwing keeps almost continuously 

 on the wing when uttering its alarm note, but the 

 Golden Plover usually calls while on the ground 

 and will never swoop and rush through the air as 

 does the Green Plover. The nest is far more diffi- 

 cult to discover than that of the Lapwing, as the 

 birds harmonise with their surroundings, and slip 



