EGGS AND EGG@-COLLECTING. 37 
rivers, on moors and fells in the North of England, 
Wales, Ireland, Scotland, the Orkney Islands, and the 
Hebrides. The nest is composed of a meagre supply ¢, 
bents and straws, and the eggs number four, elegantly 
shaped and beautifully coloured, though very variable in 
ground colour, sometimes of a bluish-white, blotched all 
over with umber-brown, whilst others are of a clear light 
green, richly spotted with light brown. The hen sits 
closely, 
THE SKYLARK. 
Tus familiar songster’s nest is placed on the ground, 
amongst corn or rough tufty grass, and its whereabouts is 
generally betrayed by the peculiar scudding flight of the 
hen when disturbed. The nest is built of bents and dry 
grass, those of the most slender texture being placed inside. 
The eggs number four or five (I have never found more), 
the colouring of which is subject to variation, and not of 
the easiest kind to convey in a written description. How- 
ever, the following may be taken as representative :—A 
dirty white ground colour slightly tinged with green, 
spotted and mottled with umber brown, generally more 
thickly towards the larger end. 
THE GOLDEN PLOVER. 
Tux favourite nesting-place of the Golden Plover is on the 
dreary mountain wilds of the North of England, Scotland, 
and Ireland. She selects a slight natural depression in the 
earth, and scrapes together bits of dead grass, rushes, and 
heather for a nest, in which four eggs are deposited, with 
the sharp points all meeting in the centre. The ground 
