84 THE BIRDS OF OUR RAMBLES. 



corn ; and is made of dry, coarse herbage, withered 

 leaves, and perhaps a few scraps of moss, well 

 and very neatly lined with fine grass, much of it 

 often green ; indeed, I have seen nests of this 

 species as smooth and trim inside as any nest of 

 the Missel-Thrush. From eight to twelve eggs 

 are laid, pale buff in ground colour, spotted and 

 blotched with reddish brown and violet-gray. 

 Some examples are very pale bluish green in 

 ground colour, and the spots very small and 

 sprinkled over most of the surface. A light egg 

 is often found in a clutch of the usual colour. 

 I have on several occasions found two nests of 

 this bird within a very few yards, and also known 

 it to remove its eggs entirely if much disturbed, 

 as, for instance, after a field has been mown. In 

 autumn the Land-Rail may often be met with in 

 the clover and turnip-fields, but as it is silent now 

 its presence here is often overlooked. It leaves 

 our fields in September for a southern haunt. 



In addition to the foregoing species, the fields 

 and downs are the resort of a great many birds 

 that do not make their nests upon them. The 

 fields are the great storehouses of the birds 

 their feeding - grounds ; and especially is this 

 apparent during three seasons out of the four. 

 What numbers of birds, for instance, rendezvous 

 upon them in seed-time and in harvest ; what 

 feathered hosts seek their sustenance thereon 

 when the crops are garnered ; what a great 

 variety make them their daily resort during 

 winter! A ramble, therefore, through the fields 

 cannot be complete without a passing notice of 

 the most characteristic species. For instance, 



