DTJKLIlSr. 59 



than when on the wing. They frequently give a scream on 

 first taking flight. 



The nest is usually located under the shelter of some tuft or 

 small bush in any dry spot, on marshy moors and heaths, 

 mosses or salt marshes, as well as by the sea. It is often 

 concealed, intentionally or unintentionally, with great success, 

 so as to be very difficult to find. Sometimes, however, it is 

 fashioned upon the open grass which grows green and verdant 

 here and there among the dark heather, 'lonely, lonesome, cool, 

 and green.' A few bits of moss, withered heath, or grass, form 

 its careless lining, if there be any in it, the same materials 

 being for the most part merely rounded into form a natural 

 cradle. 



The eggs are four in number, of a greenish white, greenish 

 grey, or dull green colour, blotted and spotted with a darker 

 and a lighter shade of brown, most so towards and at the 

 larger end. Some have the ground a light blue inclining to 

 dull white, others a clear light green, richly spotted with light 

 brown. They are deposited in the nest with the smaller ends 

 inwards. 



The young leave the nest as soon as hatched, and hide 

 themselves in the most recondite manner. 



Male; weight, very variable, from nine drachms to eleven, 

 and from that to 'an ounce and a half; length, about eight 

 inches, but the size appears variable as well as the plumage, 

 sometimes being half an inch less, or even, according to Sir 

 William Jardine, an inch and a half or two inches. The bill, 

 slightly inclined at the tip, is black, in winter not so dark; 

 and between it and the eye is an indistinct brown streak. Iris, 

 brown, or dusky; over it is a streak of white. Head on the 

 sides, streaked with light brown and grey; on the crown, a 

 mixture of black and ferruginous, or reddish orange, in winter 

 grey, the centre of each feather a little darker and the edge 

 a little lighter; the feathers of the neck and nape, on their 

 centres, streaked with black, the edges clear reddish brown, 

 in winter greyish, and the edges still more so. Chin, white; 

 throat, greyish white streaked with black, in winter paler; 

 breast in summer, greyish white, spotted most on the upper 

 part and sides with black and dusky, and in the centre 

 brownish black, each feather narrowly tipped with white, 

 forming a broken fringe, which extends across to the sides; 

 Montagu mentions a specimen in which the whole of the 

 breast was nearly black others have more or less closely 



