AMONG THE BIRDS IN SUMMER. 117 



in number, very similar to those of the Arctic 

 Tern, buff of various shades, spotted and blotched 

 with brown and gray. The eggs of both these 

 Terns are laid about the same time. It is a 

 stirring sight to witness the anxiety of the Terns 

 when their nests are menaced. They crowd into 

 the air, and flutter up and down like snow-flakes, 

 ever and anon uttering their sharp cricking notes. 

 Only one brood is reared in the year, and as soon 

 as the young can fly the pretty birds seem all 

 impatient to set off on their ocean wanderings 

 again. 



On moor and on mountain the birds are busy 

 bringing up their broods. The young Ring 

 Ousels can almost fly, and the Meadow Pipits 

 and Linnets, whose nests we visited in spring, 

 have safely reared their families, and in many 

 cases are engaged with a second brood. The 

 young Grouse are rapidly reaching maturity ; and 

 on the highest mountains the broods of Ptarmigan 

 run off and conceal themselves amongst the stones 20thjun 

 and lichens as we approach. The Plovers, and 

 the Snipes, and Wild Ducks are all full of family 

 cares, intensely anxious for their helpless offspring, 

 and indulging in a hundred cunning artifices to 

 lure us from them. Here and there we maycSosout 

 chance to come across a young Cuckoo being jun e e . st ' 24th 

 fed in a most conscientious manner by its foster 

 parents, the Meadow Pipits. Hard at work in- 

 deed are the little birds obliged to keep to feed 

 the greedy impostor, already three or four times 



