422 The Outline of Science 



palate does not set so much value on them. The movements in- 

 land are made with great regularity, the birds appearing at one 

 gull-pond, of which we know, about March 27, scarcely ever a 

 day before or a day later. They raise their young while the 

 Corncrake is singing its mournful and monotonous ditty in the 

 new grass and the growing wheat. A hill country attracts them 

 because of the little streamlets which provide plenty of food. 

 They know as well as the angler does that the trout lie with 

 their heads up-stream, waiting for any little titbit in the shape 

 of a worm or fly which the water brings down. When the Gulls 

 are fishing, one can watch them beating their wa*y up past a 

 succession of gravelly shells into which they occasionally dip for 

 prey. When they come to the end of the beat, they fly back 

 round the shoulder of the hill out of sight of the stream and 

 resume operations where they started before. 



Birds of the Moorland 



There is no prettier adjunct to a moorland, or a bare field, 

 than a flock of Lapwings. They fly together and alight together 

 in Autumn and Winter when not breeding, but in nesting-time 

 they go in pairs, though usually there are dozens and sometimes 

 hundreds in the same field. The bird is a simple creature in so 

 far that its nest is little more than a slight hollow on the bare 

 earth. In Spring they can be seen sitting on their eggs without 

 making the slightest attempt at concealment, so that the indi- 

 vidual who goes out to collect their eggs need only march up to 

 a sitting bird, but if it rises he must keep his eye on the place 

 from which it springs. There never can be much doubt as to 

 whether or not the nest is close, because, if it is, the birds shriek 

 and swoop at the intruder, as if they were going for his head or 

 eyes. Should an animal other than a man come, they will indeed 

 carry out the threat. No sooner are the young out of their shells 

 than they begin to run, and if chased, will select a hiding-place. 

 It may be close by stones as grey as themselves, or in the short 



