The titlark is one of the commonest birds of this district and we come across several nests, by the birds starting from in front of our feet. Their nests are always on the ground, made of dried grass, lined with hair: and contain from four to six eggs of a dusky brown, mottled over with darker brown, some having black hair lines around the egg.
A wheatear flying from out of some stones attracts our notice; and here is a nest made of grass and rabbit’s fur, containing six pale blue eggs, not unlike the American blue-birds. This wheatear is called stonechat in America, though it must not be confounded with the English stonechat which is a different species.
We now reach the moors and are soon up to the knees in heather. Bird life here is very numerous. Lapwing plovers fly over our heads, crying “pewit, pewit” in a plaintive note; long-billed curlews are screaming loudly; golden plovers are whistling; red grouse are crowing; ring ouzel are calling; and above all can be heard the welcome cry of the cuckoo. High in the air, several snipes are drumming. This noise is caused by the bird’s wings as it rapidly descends in the air. Nothing is more delightful than a ramble over a Yorkshire moor, where the purple heather grows in place of grass, relieved here and there with stretches of bracken, gray rocks and boulders. A lapwing rises some distance in front, and marking down the spot, we soon stand gazing upon its nest and four eggs with their points inward, meeting in the center, after the fashion of all plover’s eggs. The nest is simply a slight hollow in the ground, lined with bits of grass. The eggs have a dark olive ground, abundantly blotched with brown and black; average size 2.00x1.50. These eggs are much sought after as delicacies for the table; and are offered for sale in the markets at three pence and four pence each. We look around and soon find several more nests and eggs; and in less than twenty minutes we have taken some two dozen eggs, and as we don’t wish to carry them along with us, we hide them beneath a rock from carrion crows until we return.
Jumping over a little brook, a snipe darts away from a tuft of grass. In the center are snugly laid four richly marked eggs of a greenish-olive hue, blotched and spotted with two or three shades of brown. A large series show the eggs to differ much in ground color and markings. This bird is numerous in Yorkshire; I have found it breeding in all parts of the county.
Only two species of duck nest in the moors, near the lagoons, the common mallard and the teal.
The mallard usually lays from seven to twelve pale olive-green tinted eggs in a nest of grass, lined with down; size about 2.25x1.60.
The teal builds a nest of vegetable substances, lined with down and feathers. Six to twelve eggs are laid of a buffy white; size, 1.75x1.25.
The short-eared owl is found nesting here; its nest is always on the ground, a simple structure of sticks, grass and heather, upon which it lays four or five white elliptical eggs, averaging in size 1.55x1.25.
Three other species of owls nest in this district: the barn owl, the tawny owl and the long-eared owl.
The latter generally selects some old crow or magpie’s nest; and lays from four to six eggs, not so round as those of the short-eared species.