GREY PLOVER. 



51 



I replied by walking up to him and comparing notes. We then watched 

 together for another half-hour with exactly the same result. I suggested 

 that we must be so near the nest that the bird dare not come on, and 

 advised that we should retreat to the next ridge, which we accordingly did. 

 We had not done so many minutes before the female made her way to 

 the ridge where we had been lying. She then ran along the_top of the 

 ridge, passed the place where we had been stationed, and came down the 

 ridge to the flat bog towards where we then were. I whispered, " She 

 is actually crossing over to us/' Suddenly she stopped, lifted her wings 

 and settled down on the ground. We both whispered, almost in the same 

 breath, " She is on the nest." I added, " I saw her lift her wings as she 

 settled on the eggs." Harvie-Brown replied, " So did I," and added, " I 

 can't hold out any longer against the mosquitoes." I replied, "I am 

 perfectly satisfied; she is within range, take her." He lifted his gun to 

 his shoulder. She ran off the nest to the top of the ridge and stood there 

 until he tumbled her over. We then walked up to the nest, the first 

 we had seen on the flat. The eggs were quite fresh, or nearly so; and the 

 nest must have been made nearly a fortnight later than those we had 

 previously taken. During that time the bogs had become much drier, 

 so that we could cross them without much difficulty ; and this was pro- 

 bably the reason why this nest was placed lower down. The eggs had all 

 the appearance of a second laying, being less blotched than usual, one of 

 them remarkably so. It is worth noticing that whilst we were watching 

 in our first position, very near the nest, the birds were almost quite silent, 

 and did not call to each other as they usually do. 



After carefully packing the eggs, we walked on, and speedily started 

 another pair. This time we lay down together, as near as we could tell, 

 on the spot from which the birds rose, which seems to be generally from 

 forty to fifty yards from the nest. The clouds of mosquitoes formed such 

 a mist on the tundra that we had some difficulty in marking our birds; 

 but by raking the horizon with a binocular, and getting well stung 

 through our veils in the process, we soon found the female, and watched 

 her to a ridge just opposite to us. She soon settled; and within 

 a quarter of an hour after we had lain down we were both perfectly 

 satisfied that she was on the nest. We gave her a few minutes' grace, 

 and then walked up to the nest, without making any effort to shoot 

 the bird, having perfectly identified her, and being almost tired out by the 

 mosquitoes. The eggs in this nest were considerably incubated. The 

 nest was placed, as before, in a hollow on a ridge. The ground on this 

 ridge was not so mossy as usual, and there was much bare brown turf to 

 be seen. Whether this had any thing to do with the colour of the eggs it 

 is difficult to say; but the fact is that these eggs are quite brown in 

 ground-colour. 



E2 



