218 FIELD-NOTES FOR THE YEAR. CH. XV. 



the heather and in the densest part of it. The 

 nest was very beautifully formed; it was perfectly 

 round, and looked like a mass of the finest down, 

 with just sufficient coating of small sticks, etc., out- 

 side to keep the down together. There were thir- 

 teen eggs in it, which we took home and put under 

 a bantam hen : they were hatched in a few days, 

 and I allowed them to go at liberty with their 

 foster mother in the kitchen garden, where they 

 soon became perfectly tame. When the gardener 

 digs any part of the ground the little fellows im- 

 mediately flock about his spade, so that it is difficult 

 for him to avoid hurting them, as they tumble about 

 on the newly-turned up earth, darting at the worms 

 which come into view; whenever they see him take 

 his spade they run after him as if they thought that 

 his only object in digging up the ground was to 

 find them food. One tiny fellow, who is weaker 

 than the rest, and who consequently gets pushed 

 out of the way by his stronger brethren, waits 

 quietly to be lifted up on the flat of the spade, 

 where the gardener allows him to stop out of 

 the reach of the others, while the little glutton 

 swallows a worm nearly as big as himself. The 

 moment the spade is laid flat on the ground he 

 knows that his turn has come, and running on it 

 looks out for the expected worm, and is quite 



