EGGS AND EGG-COLLECTING. 137 



and west of England, Scotland, and Ireland, in the 

 Orkney and Shetland Islands, and in the Hebrides. 

 The nest is composed of a meagre supply of bents 

 and straws, and the eggs number four, elegantly shaped 

 and beautifully coloured, though very variable in ground 

 colour, sometimes of a bluish-white, blotched all over 

 with umber brown, whilst others are of a clear light 

 green, richly spotted with light brown. The hen sits 

 remarkably close. 



fk THE SKY-LARK. 



This familiar songster's nest is placed on the ground, 

 amongst corn or rough tufty grass, and its whereabouts is 

 generally betrayed by the peculiar scudding flight of the 

 hen when disturbed. The nest is built of bents and dry 

 grass, those of the most slender texture being placed inside. 

 The eggs number four or five (I have never found more) , 

 the colouring of which is subject to variation, and not of 

 the easiest kind to convey in a written description. How- 

 ever, the following may be taken as representative :— -A 

 dirty white ground colour slightly tinged with green, 

 spotted and mottled with umber brown, generally more 

 thicklv towards the larger end. 



THE GOLDEN PLOVER. 

 The favourite nesting-place of the Golden Plover is on the 

 dreary mountain wilds of the North of England, Scotland, 

 and Ireland. She selects a slight natural depression in the 

 earth, and scrapes together bits of dead grass, rushes, and 

 heather for a nest, in which four eggs are deposited, with 

 the sharp points all meeting in the centre. The ground 



