WINTER EXCURSION. 297 



after we observed, cowering among the snow-tufts, some large 

 birds, w^hich I presently discovered to be Bro^^^l Ptarmigans, 

 alias Red Grouse. Five of them were crouched near the road, 

 but on our going up, flew off and joined another covey among 

 some peats. These in their turn removed to a distance, and 

 finally sped away in company w4th others, forming altogether 

 a pack amounting to about fifty. As the wind blew strongly 

 the drift was not so deep as entirely to cover the tips of the 

 heather tufts, so that these birds could still procure a sufficiency 

 of food; but they seemed entirely exposed to their enemies, 

 beinof unable to conceal or even shelter themselves amonoj the 

 snow, on which their dark colour rendered them very conspi- 

 cuous. Finding the locks of our guns crusted with snow and 

 their muzzles filled, we could only w^ish the Grouse a merry 

 Christmas. The only other birds we met with on the high 

 moor were a few Rooks, which hovered over the fields, although 

 they could scarcely obtain anything from them. By a small 

 stream running towards the Tweed we observed a Dipper, as 

 cheerful and lively as ever, and in a corn-yard a congregation of 

 Chaffinches, Greenfinches, and Yellow Buntings, with a few 

 Blackbirds, all busily occupied. 



In the narrow valley of Eddlestone Water the snow lay 

 deeper than on the high ground, it being sheltered from the 

 north-east w4nd, which, sweeping the hills almost bare on the 

 w^indward side, deposited the drift on the lower grounds, so 

 that occasionally we had some difficulty in making our way 

 through the wreaths. There is a good deal of wood in this 

 valley, but in the plantations very few birds were to be seen. 

 On the open grounds w^ere observed a few Rooks; by the 

 stream a solitary Dipper here and there ; and in the little rills 

 or springs which sometimes occurred unfrozen, as well as in the 

 ditches by the road, we started a few Snipes. These birds rose 

 without emitting any sound, flew high, and wheeling for some 

 time, generally alighted again in or near the same place. Above 

 Eddlestone we observed two Goldfinches discussing the tops of 

 some thistles that protruded through the snow ; but the only 

 other small birds that occurred were those common in all parts 

 of the country, namely, the Chaffinch, Green Linnet, House 



