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PRACTICAL ORNITHOLOGY. 



SECOND LESSON. 



WINTER EXCURSION DURING A SNOW-STORM FROM EDINBURGH TO PEEBLES. 

 BIRDS OBSERVED. BAT-HUNTING IN NIDPATH CASTLE. THE VALLEV 

 OF THE TWEED, BIRDS FOUND AROUND EDINBURGH IN WINTER. 

 SNOW-STORM IN THE OUTER HEBRIDES VIEWED FROM THE SUMMIT OF 

 CLISHEIM. BIRDS FOUND THERE IN WINTER. 



The naturalist must not confine his observation to objects that 

 can be contemplated under circumstances conducive to personal 

 comfort, nor shut himself up in his study when the wintry 

 winds sweep fiercely over the blasted heath. He who is fami- 

 liar with the actions and haunts of birds during the fine season 

 only, knows but half of their history. How do they contrive 

 to procure the means of subsistence when the country is covered 

 with snow, especially when the storm has lasted for weeks ; 

 and what influence is exerted upon their character by the frosts 

 and tempests of winter ? To solve these problems, let us sally 

 forth into the fields, now that the snow^ has been two days on 

 the ground, and the cold blasts of the north-east wind howl 

 among the leafless twigs. But as it is only half -past two in 

 the morning, and the clouds are fast pouring down their feathery 

 flakes, obscuring at intervals the full moon, I can scarcely re- 

 commend to the comfort-loving citizen to leave his warm bed. 

 Indeed I feel assured that I shall contribute to his amusement 

 more eflectually by relating a nocturnal expedition in the midst 

 of a snow-storm than by dragging him out to shiver in the cold 

 moonlight on a bleak moor. As to the real enthusiasts in orni- 

 thology, from Audubon down to myself, they can never rest 

 contented with the ordinary occurrences of life, but if the tide 

 of events flows too smoothly, must ruffle it now and then by 

 throwing some blocks into its channel. 



In the morning of Monday the 26th December 1836, the 



