THE YOUXG NATURALIST. 



95 



WADING AND RUNNING BIRDS, &c. 



The Stone Curlew, or Norfolk Plover, is most 

 mmerous in the eastern counties south of the 

 dumber. The nest is said to be placed on the 

 ground, and loosely composed of a few straws, 

 rhe eggs are greenish diab, blotched and streaked 

 nth darker color and .umber brown. They vary 

 luch in the character of the markings, sometimes 

 eing simply spotted. The Golden Plover is 

 ommon on the high moors in the north of 

 England and Scotland. Like the other Plovers 

 le nest is very fragile, only a few bits of dry grass 

 r ling. The eggs are rather large for the size of 

 le bird ; pale drab, beautifully blotched and 

 rotted with umber br©wn. The Ringed Plover 

 a coast bird, frequenting the sand and shingle, 

 here it places a few blades of dry grass in some 

 aall depression, and, according to an excellent 

 id well qualified observer, paves the bottom with 

 lall white stones. The eggs are pale drab, with 

 lall black and grey spots. The Lap-wing, or 

 ;e-wit, frequents marshy ground, where it places 

 nest and lays four eggs, greenish brown, 

 otched with umber brown and black. On the 

 t coasts the Oystercatcher is generally rather 

 mmon ; it places its nest among sand or shingle, 

 2 chief material of which it is formed being 

 all pebbles. The eggs are yellowish stone color, 

 Dtted or streaked with black and grey. The 

 ;ron is a large bird, with long legs and neck ; 

 eems a strange bird to perch in trees, but such 

 the case, for it builds its nest there, always in 

 onies like rooks. I never saw their nests, but 

 y are said to be formed of sticks, with softer 

 terial, such as wool, for the lining. The eggs 

 greenish blue, without any markings. The 

 tern belongs to the same family, but frequents 

 impy morasses, always placing its nest near 

 water's edge. The nest is a large mass, con- 

 icted of dead leaves, &c, and the eggs are 

 -e brown, rather darker than the pheasant's egg. 

 I Curlew, though often found on the coast in 

 winter, resorts to the high moorlands to breed ; 

 nest is generally made of dry grass or heather, 

 the eggs are greenish color, blotched with 

 <- brown; like the Snipes and Sandpipers, they 

 jr very much to the small end. The common 

 dpiper scoops out a hole under a tuft of carex, 

 rass, not far from some water's edge, which it 

 with fine grass. The eggs are a pale, warm, 



stone-color, spotted with dark brown and grey. 

 The Common Snipe is a high moorland bird dur- 

 ing the breeding season. A small, hollow place 

 in the ground under some tuft of heibage, and 

 lined with a little dry grass, serves the purpose of 

 a nest . The eggs are drab or olive, blotched with 

 dark umber brown. The blotches are not un- 

 frequently elongated, and not pointing direct from 

 one end to the other, but all pointing in a slanting 

 direction, giving the egg a twisted appearance. I 

 have never found the nest of the Dunlin except 

 in very elevated situations near to mountain lakes, 

 but it is also said to breed on the sea coast. The 

 nest is simply a few blades of dry grass, and the 

 eggs are greenish stone-color, blotched with umber 

 I brown. The Landrail, or Corncrake, is very 

 , common, and you have no need to go far on a 

 summer's evening without hearing the familiar 

 "crake, crake," so well-known to every country- 

 man. It makes its nest in corn or grass, and the 

 mowers often come upon them when cutting the 

 grass for hay, of which the nest itself is composed. 

 This bird lays ten or fourteen eggs before beginning 

 to sit ; they are reddish cream-color, spotted with 

 brown. The nest of the Moor-hen should be 

 looked for amongst sedges and bullrushes at the 

 edge of some pond where the bird is known to 

 frequent, and, when found, you will often have to 

 take off boots and stockings to get at it. Seven 

 or eight eggs are about the usual number ; of a 

 reddish stone-color, with spots of different shades 

 umber brown. The Coot is a similar bird, but 

 larger, and its eggs are larger, paler in the ground 

 color, and the markings more in the form of little 

 round spots. The nest, like that of the Moor-hen, 

 is a mass of reeds and rushes, often resting on the 

 top of the water. 



Sea Water in Lead Pipes. — It has been 

 discovered that after keeping strips of new cut 

 lead in a bottle of sea-water, frequently shaken 

 for four days, no trace of lead could be detected 

 in the water, but the bright surface of the strips 

 was coated with an insoluble lead compound. 

 Hence, lead pipes may be used in marine aquaria 

 without any fear of injury to their inhabitants. 



