OVER THE BROADS AND SWAMPS. 193 



and fences, just as we noticed the Common Sand- 

 piper doing. More interesting still are the love 

 flights of the male birds. Sometimes they start 

 from a perching-place, or a wall, or even a tree, 

 and go fluttering higher and higher in the air, 

 then descend with wings and tail expanded, all 

 the time uttering a loud and by no means un- 

 musical trill. The nesting season begins in April. 

 Several nests may not unfrequently be found on 

 a comparatively small area of marsh or moor. 

 Amongst the coarse grass, the rush-tufts, and 

 other vegetation of her haunt the female scrapes 

 a little hollow, and lines it with a few scraps of 

 the dry herbage around. In this rude nest she 

 lays her four eggs, pale buff in ground colour, 

 richly and boldly blotched and spotted with 

 dark brown, lighter brown, and gray. Most of 

 the markings are on the larger end. The young 

 birds and their parents keep much together until 

 their departure for the coast. Insects, larvae, and 

 small worms are the Redshank's principal food 

 during its summer sojourn on the marshes and 

 the moors. 



Formerly the BITTERN (Botaurus stellaris) 

 used to breed commonly enough in this district ; 

 now it is only known as a visitor, and chiefly in 

 winter. I came across an old coloured print the 

 other day, entitled " Bittern Shooting," in which 

 two sportsmen, with their dogs and flint fowling- 

 pieces, were shown amongst the fens, with 

 portraits of dead Bitterns beside them at their 

 feet, and representations of several live Bitterns 

 in the air. " Ah," I mused, " poor Botaurus was 

 evidently common then ; yet how different are his 

 fortunes now ! Would that we could restore him 



