EGGS AND EGG-COLLECTING. 163 



rivers in the Orkney Islands, Hebrides, and the North of 

 Scotland. The nest is composed of a meagre supply of 

 bents and straws, and the eggs number four, elegantly 

 shaped and beautifully coloured, though very variable in 

 ground colour, sometimes of a bluish-white, blotched all 

 over with umber brown, whilst others are of a clear light- 

 green, richly spotted with light brown. The hen sits 

 remarkably close, suffering herself to be removed from the 

 nest sooner than leave it. 



THE SKY-LARK. 



THIS familiar songster's nest is placed on the ground, 

 amongst corn or rough tufty grass, and its whereabouts is 

 generally betrayed by the peculiar scudding flight of the 

 hen when disturbed. The nest is built of bents and dry 

 grass, those of the most slender texture being placed inside. 

 The eggs number four or five (I have never found more), 

 the colouring of which is subject to variation, and not of 

 the easiest kind to convey in a written description. How- 

 ever, the following may be taken as representative : A 

 dirty white ground colour slightly tinged with green, 

 spotted and mottled with umber brown, generally more 

 thickly towards the larger end. 



THE GOLDEN PLOVER. 



THE favourite nesting-place of the Golden Plover is on the 

 dreary mountain wilds of the North of England, Scotland, 

 and Ireland. She selects a slight natural depression in the 

 earth, and scrapes together bits of dead grass, rushes, and 

 heather for a nest, in which four eggs are deposited, with 

 the sharp points all meeting in the centre. The ground 

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