Birds. 9839 



small branches which hung over the water, about eighteen inches 

 from its surface. This was a much more solidly built nest than any 

 other I found. It is almost impossible to find the parent bird sitting 

 on the nest, for on the approach of any intruder they spring, some- 

 thing after the manner of a mouse, from it, hop from reed to reed till 

 they arrive at some distance, and then break forth into a little 

 warble. The eggs vary sometimes from the usual greenish white to a 

 brownish white ground, and some have not the black irregular spots 

 which are generally to be found at the larger end : they are from three 

 to four in number; in a few instances, five. 



Sky Lark. — The stubble-lands and low-lying fields literally swarm 

 with larks at this season of the year, and ihey are just as plentiful at 

 spring time. They resort very much to the " saltings" (land covered 

 with rank herbage lying between the embankments and the shore, and 

 covered at spring tides), roosting there at nights. They may also con- 

 stantly be seen at some distance from the shore, picking up sand- 

 worms on the fore-shore after the tide has left it. I have never seen 

 Alauda arvensis resort so much to the sea-coast as it does here. They 

 build here, as at all other places, late in the season, and though their 

 nests are so numerous they are yet somewhat difficult to find. On 

 frightening the female from her nest, she flies along the ground for 

 some distance before she mounts into the air. One morning I started 

 a lark from beneath a coltsfoot-leaf, and on examining the spot found 

 an egg deposited in a hole scratched in the earth, the nest not having 

 been begun ; a few days afterwards it was finished, and contained 

 three or four eggs. Some eggs are of a very light ground-colour, 

 lightly and sparingly spotted, after the manner of a sparrow's egg, 

 while others are as dark as those of the titlark, with sometimes a faint 

 streak at the larger end. 



Titlark. — Very plentiful, particularly near the shore, although thev 

 are as much at home on the mountain-top as they are in the meadow. 

 They nest here in the grassy banks or on the side of any eminence, if 

 it be covered with thick herbage. They build the first week in May, 

 and lay from three to five eggs. 



Beed Bunting.— Common in the marshes, and builds in the banks 

 of the dykes, as also on the ground in wet places ; the nest is placed 

 under a tuft of grass : when in the latter-named situation the founda- 

 tion is very thick and compactly put together to keep out the moisture : 

 a good deal of hair is used in the lining. 



Linnet. — Next to the lark, there is hardly any bird so common on 

 this coast : they fi-equent the sandy ground near the shore, feeding on 



