WANDERERS. 179 



might think they were resting somewhere in the 

 immediate neighbourhood ; but you would be de- 

 ceived, for their resting-place might be twelve or 

 twenty miles away. 



Even in their nesting habits the wanderers are 

 to a certain extent contradictory, for the grey lag 

 goose breeds in the moss - hags of the moors. 

 Curlews, golden plovers, and dunlins nest on the 

 open moors, at the time when the linnet sings 

 from the tangle above them. At that time you 

 can hear the crow of the grouse-cock, the whistle 

 of the plover, and the pipe of the dunlin : they 

 are all there when their season comes round. 

 Being early breeders, they are ready to go before 

 the linnet has got his first brood out in the yellow 

 broom. Great birds come shrieking and wheel- 

 ing about, beating in all directions, except where 

 their young are squatting. These are curlews. 

 There is not the least necessity for this, but they 

 seem to do it just to keep up the character which 

 has been given them, that of guardians of the moors. 



