CHAP. SEVENTEEN SPRING BIRDS 



TH E pewit is the first bird that visits us for the 

 purp'ose of nidification. About the middle of 

 February a soHtary pewit appears or perhaps 

 a pair, and I hear them in the evening flying 

 from the shore in order to search for worms in the field. To- 

 wards the end of the month, great flocks arrive and collect 

 on thesands,always, however, feedinginland;itisaltogether 

 a nocturnal bird as far as regards feeding: at any hour of the 

 night, and however dark it is, if I happen to pass through 

 the grass-fields, I hear the pewits rising near me. Excepting 

 to feed, they do not take much to the land till the end of 

 March, when, if the weather is mild, I see them all day long 

 flying about in their eccentric circles — generally in pairs; 

 immediately after they appear in this manner, they com- 

 mence laying their eggs, almost alwayson the barest fields, 

 where they scratch a small hole just large enough to con- 

 tain four eggs — the usual number laid by all waders; it is 

 very difficult to distinguish these eggs from the ground, 

 theircolourbeingabrownish-green mottled withdark spots. 

 I often see the hooded crows hunting the fields frequented 

 by the pewits, as regularly as a pointer, flying a few yards 

 above the ground, and searching for the eggs. The cunning 

 crow always selects the time when the old birds are away 

 on the shore; as soonas heis perceived, however, the pewits 

 all combine in chasing him away: indeed, they attack fear- 

 lessly any bird of prey that ventures near their breeding- 

 ground; and I have often detected the locale of a stoat or 

 weasel by the swoops of these birds: also when they have 

 laid their eggs they fight most fiercely with any other bird 

 of their own species which happens to alight too near them. 



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