176 THE BIRDS OF OUR RAMBLES. 



and search each square inch of the moor without 

 success. The Greenshank makes its scanty nest 

 about the middle of May on a dry hummock in 

 the swamps, or beneath the shelter of a heath- 

 tuft by the loch-side, and in this the hen-bird 

 lays her four supremely handsome pear-shaped 

 eggs. They are buff in ground colour, spotted 

 and blotched with dark brown and gray. The 

 food of this bird is insects and worms, and even 

 the tiny fish that swim in shoals in the shallows 

 are often captured as the Greenshank runs or 

 wades along the waterside. Like the Common 

 Sandpiper, this bird is only a summer migrant to 

 the British Islands ; but during the seasons of its 

 spring and autumn flights April and May, and 

 September into October the latter especially, 

 it is much more widely distributed along our 

 coasts, and the number of indigenous birds is 

 increased by individuals passing to and from 

 breeding- grounds much further north in Arctic 

 Europe. The Greenshank is readily identified 

 by its note, by its olive-green legs, and slightly 

 recurved bill. 



One of the most interesting birds of the 

 Northern mountains is the little SNOW BUNTING (Emberiza 

 Shetland's. mvoKs). It is only within more recent years that 

 the fact of its summer residence with us has been 

 satisfactorily established by the discovery of its nest 

 on the mountains of Scotland. This charming 

 bird is well enough known in the winter months ; 

 for at that season flights of Snow Buntings seek 

 refuge on our shores from the rigours of the Arctic 

 regions. And yet the Snow Bunting has no 

 regular winter home. It is one of those birds that 

 go no further from their Arctic breeding-grounds 



