138 HOWSE: NOTE ON THE NESTING OF THE PEEWIT. 
and unsuccessful search, we quitted the field about twelve o'clock, 
and afterwards as carefully searched the nearest part of an adjoining 
field, but without success, for we did not find a single egg all day. 
Out of the sunshine, the air was bitterly cold, and though there were 
birds in great numbers, no eggs were to be found on the Saturday. 
n the Monday following (Easter Monday), after a long moor- 
land walk, we were returning homewards by the same small field, 
but approaching it in a different direction, and along a road by 
which we were concealed from view, and could not be seen till we 
were close to it. On looking cautiously over the stone wall to see 
if the birds were still there, we saw several Peewits rise from the 
ground in the peculiar manner they assume when rising from their 
nest. Proceeding over the wall directly to the spot where the bird 
nearest had risen from the ground, we came upon a nest with four 
eggs, and at short distances off we found two others, each with two 
eggs. In the adjoining field, which we had searched also on the 
previous Saturday, we found another nest with four eggs, and not 
far off, on an adjoining rig, another nest with two eggs. That is, 
in about twenty minutes on the Monday at noon we found 
altogether fourteen eggs on the same ground which, on the previous 
Saturday, we had searched for about an hour and a half without 
finding a single egg. As we had on the Saturday examined the 
ground with much care, and were certain that we had not over- 
looked any eggs on that day, the conclusion was forced on us 
that the nests with four eggs, as well as the others, must have been 
laid within the forty-eight hours, that is, between 12 o'clock on 
Saturday and the same hour on Easter Monday, if not in even 
a shorter time. 
As further evidence that Peewits lay their eggs quickly and in 
a short time, and confirmatory of the above observation, it may be 
mentioned that in Easter week, 1866, I found some Peewits’ eggs 
both these eggs must have been laid since the morning of the 
previous day, if not in a shorter time, for all the moors were 
Naturalist, 
