On Heaths and Marshes. 1 25 



the other British species. We say "nests", but in 

 reality there is little or no provision made for the 

 eggs, beyond a mere hollow in which a few scraps 

 of withered herbage are strewn. The half-dozen 

 creamy-white eggs are, therefore, conspicuous enough 

 in many places, though better concealed in others 

 when they are laid under bracken or amongst heath. 

 The sitting bird, however, crouches close over them, 

 and shields them from observation by her own pro- 

 tective-coloured plumage. These eggs are usually 

 laid in May in the northern shires, several weeks 

 earlier in more southern localities. 



With a passing glimpse at some of the more inter- 

 esting phases of bird-life in the northern marshes 

 we will bring the present chapter to a close. The 

 Bittern, formerly a dweller in them, has long been 

 banished from the bogs and mires not only of the 

 northern shires, but everywhere else in our islands, 

 and exists now as a tradition only that is to say, as 

 a breeding species. The Marsh Harrier a name 

 sufficiently suggestive of the haunts it formerly 

 affected has similarly disappeared from the two 

 northern shires (Yorkshire and Lancashire), where 

 it formerly bred. One of the most widely-dispersed 

 birds in these marshy situations is the Water Rail a 

 species that is, perhaps, more overlooked, owing to 

 its secretive habits, than any other found in our 

 islands. It is astonishing what a small bit of marsh 



