CHAPTER XXXV 



WINTER IN THE WESTERN HIGHLANDS 

 I . — DECEMBER 



Although during the month that has just closed there were 

 many wild and stormy days, December will be remembered 

 for a spell of magnificent calm and frosty weather which 

 opened on the 12th and continued till the evening of the 

 20th. During the whole of this period the weather was calm, 

 and latterly a light fall of snow covered the ground. The 

 glass was low — 29.4 inches or thereabouts — and this seems 

 to bear out the fact that in winter, at all events, the finest 

 weather is accompanied by a low, or comparatively low, 

 barometer. At midday on the 20th, a ring appeared en- 

 circling the sun, and a thick blanket of cloud overspread 

 the sky from the south, bringing wind with it at sunset. 

 Cold, unsettled weather continued till the 28th, and the hills 

 were heavily covered with snow. On the 28th, with a gale 

 from the south-west, the temperature exceeded 50° Fahr., 

 remaining high till the close of the month. On the 30th 

 a strong gale blew from south-west, veering to the west, after 

 heavy squalls of hail and rain, this being, I think, the 

 heaviest wind experienced throughout the month. 



Purple sandpipers have frequented the shore during 

 December. On the i6th I noticed three purple sandpipers 

 and two turnstones feeding together. It was interesting to 

 watch the different methods by which they gained their food. 

 The sandpipers confined themselves in their search to the 

 immediate water's edge, whereas the turnstones were not 

 so particular. In feeding, the sandpiper's movements re- 

 sembled those of dunlin or sanderling, the bill being thrust 

 down into the seaweed with great rapidity, reminding one 



