on Rambles with a Camera among our South-Country Birds. 135


the ground in a field of growing clover, at some thirty or forty

yards from the nearest hedge. This nest would undoubtedly have

remained undiscovered but for the fact that some cattle had

broken into the field, and in driving them out I flushed the

bird.


The Mistle-Thrush f Turdus viscivorusj, another but less

common member of this musically-gifted family, is also, like

the foregoing species, an early breeder, the nest often being

built, the eggs laid, and sometimes the young hatched before the

trees and hedgerows have burst into leaf. I have frequently

noted the partiality these species have for the tangled thorns of

some old dell—some disused gravel or chalk pit of days gone by

—in which to build their nests. One in such a position, which

I photographed last Spring, contained five, instead of the usual

four, eggs. On showing the photograph to a well-known writer

on British birds, he questioned its genuineness, suggesting that

the fifth egg had been placed there by some mischievous boys.

Unfortunately, from what I know of the average country boy, he

is far more likely to take and destroy the eggs from a nest

than add others to them. Still, though my friend stands by his

assertion that the Mistle-Thrush, to use his own words, “ Bays

four eggs, never more, and rarely less,” I found yet another

clutch of five within a hundred yards of the first-mentioned

nest, both nests being on private ground. Moreover, I have the

assurance of several friends that they have had similar

experience. *


The Lapwing f Vanellus vulgarisJ, the commonest member

of the Plover tribe occurring in these islands, with his smart

dress, has always been a favourite of mine. His plaintive cry is

to be heard day and night when his breeding grounds are invaded.

Equally characteristic are his wonderful aerial evolutions, and the

plainly audible whirr of his broad black wings as he swoops

past one again and again, while his mate meantime has slipped

quietly away from her treasures, to join him directly in

demonstrative but infinitely picturesque behaviour with the

object of luring the intruder from their nest. My efforts to rear

this bird have not, so far, been very successful. In the Spring of



See illustration on page 43 of Pictures of Bird Life. Lodge.



