186 



KNOWLEDGE. 



[August 1, 1895. 



A pair of golden plovers,- screaming as they flew round 

 U3, next attracted our attention. In common with several 

 birds, such as the curlew, which are generally to be found 

 on the coast in winter, the golden plover comes inland 

 in the spring and breeds on the moors and marshes. 

 They make no regular nest, but lay their four large pear- 

 shaped eggs in a little scrape in the ground, which makes 

 them difficult to find. The young are still more difficult 

 to discover. They are able to run as soon as they are 

 hatched, and directly the parent birds give the alarm 

 note, they instinctively hide in the grass and keep per- 

 fectly stiU. Moreover, the parent birds are very clever at 

 drawing the uninitiated away from their eggs or young. 

 Thus the young bird has every chance of surviving, and 

 coupled with the fact that it is a hardy bird, one would 

 think that the golden plover would increase rapidly ; 

 but in the autumn, when they are excellent eating, 

 thousands are shot, as they move about the country in 

 great flocks. 



In the very heart of the moor we came upon a small 

 fir wood, from out of which several black grouse ^ flew as 

 we approached. The black-cock, as the male bird is called, 

 is polygamous, and is accompanied in the breeding season 

 by several grey-hens. They are late breeders, and had 

 only just commenced to lay. We found two eggs, both 

 laid upon the bare ground in different parts of the wood, 

 and without any pretence to a nest or even a scrape. We 

 flushed the bird from one which was evidently only just 

 laid. The egg was placed amongst the roots of a tree in 

 such a position that a nest could not have been formed 

 on that particular spot ; the other egg we found under 

 a thick bush, also an unlikely place for a nest. It would 

 seem from this that the black grouse, like ducks and 

 other birds, lays several eggs before making a nest. Then 

 it either makes a nest in a convenient spot, and in some 

 manner transports the eggs already laid to it, or else it 

 gradually forms a nest round the eggs. I can gain no 

 further information on this subject, and shall be glad if 

 any of the readers of Knowledge interested in this point 

 will give me their own experiences. 



We had left the wood and were spread out across the 

 moor searching for nests, when suddenly a blinding snow- 

 storm came on. The morning had been balmy and warm, 

 but we were now in the midst of a regular winter storm. 

 We closed up together, and two of us with the shepherd and 

 his collies took shelter behind a wide board, which we 

 chanced upon. While we were crouching an old grouse 

 began to fly round in a restless manner, while every 

 now and then she alighted a little way off and made an 

 anxious noise. Presently we heard a " cheep " and then 

 another, ten yards or so away, and we guessed that they 

 were young grouse. One of us began clucking like a hen in 

 the hope of attracting the young chicks, when very much 

 to our surprise the " cheeping " sound grew nearer, and soon 

 eight tiny grouse came running through the snow to the 

 call. There was a little rivulet between them and us, and 

 as we were wondering what the chicks would do every one 

 ran blindly into it. We got them all out and brooded them 

 in our hands until the storm had blown over, and then we 

 went away and left them to their anxious mother. 



By this time the whole moor was completely white — 

 a curious phenomenon in summer ! It revealed a very 

 striking fact in regard to the protective colour of birds. 

 Now the grouse could be seen on all sides, even to the dis- 

 tance of half a mile, brooding their young, so dark did they 

 appear against the snow, whilst previously, one almost 



- Golden Plover (Charadriiis pluvialis), 

 ' Black Grouse (Telrao tetrix). 



stepped on them before seeing them. Another curious fact 

 consequent upon the snow falling in summer was made 

 apparent. All the birds having naturally covered their 

 eggs or young, immediately the snow began to fall, green 

 patches were left where the eggs or young had been, the 

 contrast being very strong between the whiteness of the 

 snow and the vivid green of the grass or dark brown of the 

 heather. A curlew's ^ nest, for instance, which we found, 

 while the snow still covered the ground, was very con- 

 spicuous, and could be seen for some distance. 





It was getting rather late and another very heavy snow- 

 storm came on, so we returned to the shepherd's cottage. 

 While we were waiting for the weather to clear, a pair of 

 ring-ouzels, 5 which were hopping about quite close to the 

 house, attracted our attention. Eing-ouzels, or " hill- 

 blackies," as they are called in Scotland, are not unlike 

 blackbirds, the cock being black and the hen brown, but 

 the distinctive feature in their plumage is a white collar 

 round the throat. They were diligently collecting insects, 

 and evidently had young not far off. We saw them 

 fly away and come back again several times, and then 

 we followed them. For a whole hour we watched the 

 crafty birds with our field glasses before we could track 

 them to the nest. We were on one side of a wide ravine 

 and they were on the other amongst some juniper bushes, 

 one of which we were sure contained the nest. But they 

 flew backwards and forwards from bush to bush, then one 

 of them would take a worm in its bill and fly into a bush 

 with it, and we would make sure the nest was there, but 

 no, it was only a ruse, the bird would come out in a 

 minute or so and go to another bush. All this time they 

 kept up an incessant noise something like a blackbird's 

 alarm note, but rather harsher and slower, more like a 

 fieldfare's click, clack ; the cock bird was especially noisy. 

 At last we tracked them down, and leaving one of our 

 party to keep his glass fixed on the spot, the rest rushed 

 aci-oss the ravine up to the juniper bush we had marked, 

 and found the nest in a branch touching the ground. It 

 was very compact and much like that of a blackbird. 

 The nest contained three young birds nearly fledged, and 

 although late in the afternoon and rather dark, I stUl 

 managed to get a photograph good enough for my purpose, 

 which was to keep a record of the position and appearance 

 of the nest in its natural situation. 



Common Curlew {Numenius arquata), 

 King-ouzel {Turdvs torquafus). 



