. Notes on the birds of Northamptonshire and neighbourhood . rs *. Our winterflocks, which have certainly greatly increased innumbers of late years, split up into pairs in March,and the few that remain with us are to be found attheir nesting-places about the third week of thatmonth. With us at Lilford most of the nests are * The number of Peewits breeding about Lilford has greatlyincreased since the above paragraph was written. 24 THE BIRDS OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE situated in the water-meadows or upland pastures,a few on certain very limited spots in our arablelands; a rery great proportion of the
. Notes on the birds of Northamptonshire and neighbourhood . rs *. Our winterflocks, which have certainly greatly increased innumbers of late years, split up into pairs in March,and the few that remain with us are to be found attheir nesting-places about the third week of thatmonth. With us at Lilford most of the nests are * The number of Peewits breeding about Lilford has greatlyincreased since the above paragraph was written. 24 THE BIRDS OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE situated in the water-meadows or upland pastures,a few on certain very limited spots in our arablelands; a rery great proportion of the eggs areregularly stolen by Carrion-Crows, Rooks, and Jack-daws, so that the number taken for the table by ourpeople is no index as to the true average of eggslaid. The Peewit generally makes several scratchingsbefore finally deciding upon a site for laying, andI have known of more than one instance in whichthe female bird, after laying one or two eggs, haswithout any apparent cause deserted them and com-menced laying in a scratching within a few yards of. IPee-wits and. Partridge: What do you want? her first deposit. The full complement of eggs isfour, but by removing three as soon as the laying iscomplete, I have several times succeeded in obtainingsix or eight fresh eggs and left three or four to behatched out, and these late eggs have the best chance AND NEIGHBOURHOOD. 25 from the partial concealment afforded by the growthof the surrounding vegetation. Till the Peewitcommences to sit, both old birds are very bold inflying around and even at an intruder, but as soonas incubation begins the hen bird slips quietly fromher eggs when approached and, after running a shortdistance, flies off low and silently to a distance,leaving the protection of her treasure to the courageand artifice of her mate, but after the young birdsleave the nest both the parent birds will do theirutmost to draw the attention of men and dogs awayfrom their downy family to themselves by screamingand feign
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectbirds, bookyear1895
