7o Among the Birds in Northern Shires. 



marshy meadows and saltings near the sea. They 

 love the swampy portions of the moors the spacious 

 hollows between the hills, where the wet ground is 

 clothed with a dense growth of rushes, cotton-grass, 

 and sphagnum, amongst which the heath and ling 

 in scattered patches mark the drier portions of the 

 ground. At the first alarm the ever-watchful Plovers 

 rise one after the other from all parts of the waste, 

 and then begins a chorus of flute-like whistling cries, 

 bird after bird taking up the chorus and alarming 

 all other and less demonstrative species within hear- 

 ing. Here and there a Golden Plover may be seen 

 quietly standing upon the spongy ground. But it 

 needs sharp eyes to see them, so closely does their 

 spangled backs harmonize with the golden sphagnum 

 and other vegetation. May is their breeding season, 

 and their four large pear-shaped eggs are deposited 

 in a scantily-lined hollow, often beneath the shade 

 of a tuft of rushes or cotton-grass. These eggs are 

 very much the same in general appearance as those 

 of the Lapwing, but the tints are richer and brighter. 

 Of the Sandpiper or Snipe tribe there are at least 

 half a dozen more or less common species that visit 

 the moors in spring to breed. Most of them are 

 never met with on our south-western uplands at this 

 season, although the Snipe, the Curlew, and the 

 Dunlin are more cosmopolitan in their choice. The 

 two former species are by far the commonest and 



