. British birds' nests; how, where, and when to find and identify them . ent and under tail-coverts pale and toes yellow ; claws black. The female is about two inches longer than themale. The whole of her upper-parts are dark liver-brown, the feathers tipped with rusty red and havingduskj^ shafts. Tail-quills, like the back, barred withlight yellowish-brown. Under-parts pale brownish-white, with broad, dusky brown streaks. Situation and Locality.—On the ground, amongstdeep heather and ling, or scattered rocks; on openmoors, heaths, and rough sheep-pastures. It issaid to be oc
. British birds' nests; how, where, and when to find and identify them . ent and under tail-coverts pale and toes yellow ; claws black. The female is about two inches longer than themale. The whole of her upper-parts are dark liver-brown, the feathers tipped with rusty red and havingduskj^ shafts. Tail-quills, like the back, barred withlight yellowish-brown. Under-parts pale brownish-white, with broad, dusky brown streaks. Situation and Locality.—On the ground, amongstdeep heather and ling, or scattered rocks; on openmoors, heaths, and rough sheep-pastures. It issaid to be occasionally found in trees and on cliffs,but I have never seen one in either situation. Inthe wild moorland parts of the North of England,Wales, Scotland, and Ireland. Our illustration isfrom a photograph taken on the hills betweenWestmoreland and Yorkshire. The nest was in deepheather on a slojDiug hillside, commanding everyaspect of approach. It was evidently a favourite site,for the gentleman who showed it to us in 1894said that a brood had been reared at the same. MERLIN. 166 BUITISH BIRDS XESTS. place the yecar before; and I Hushed the femaleclose to the place this year, but was unable to findher nest. He showed us three knolls, each aboutfifty yards from the nesting site, upon whicli theold birds plucked the prey before taking it totheir young. They brought Moor Poults (youngGrouse), Green Plovers, Meadow Pipits, mice, andyoung Snipe. Materials.—A few twigs or sprigs of heather,grass, or moss, generally next to nothing. The onephotographed was in a very slight depression, andcontained only a few dead heather sprouts. Eggs.—Three to six, generally four or five,creamy-white, so thickly covered with spots,blotches, or clouds of dark reddish-brown, as toalmost completely hide the ground colour. Some-times the markings consist of small dots closetyand thickly scattered over the whole surface, andin these the ground colour becomes more about 1-6 by 1*2 in. On
Size: 1325px × 1887px
Photo credit: © Reading Room 2020 / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectbirdsne, bookyear1898
