BIRDS OF LOCH AND MOUNTAIN 75 



The period of incubation is about three weeks, 

 but varies somewhat according to the dryness of 

 the weather. The young are almost all hatched 

 out by the first week in June ; the earliest date on 

 which I ever saw them was May loth, when they 

 were probably quite a week old, and this although 



NESTING SITE OF THE GOLDEN PLOVER. 



April had been a very stormy month, with frost 

 and snow almost daily. 



When the young have left the nest the old birds 

 are very anxious about them and show signs of the 

 greatest distress when they are approached. The cock 

 and hen will both run round and round all the while 

 you are near, keeping at a safe distance, and every 

 now and again taking short flights to try to decoy 

 you from the vicinity. Occasionally they will circle 

 round the intruder's head two or three times, 



