266 BIRD-LIFE OF THE BORDERS 



it now) and white primaries of L. albus, and habitually 

 perch on trees in preference to sitting among- the snowy 

 heather. 



As a rule, the only small birds seen wide out on 

 the open moor during snow, are wrens and snow- 

 buntings ; but in 1905, for the first time, I noticed a 

 stonechat. This was on November 29th, on Chirdon 

 Head, North Tyne. The snow, new-fallen, was soft, 

 about a foot deep, and the little bird was lively enough, 

 seeking insect-food (as the wrens do) in the tiniest little 

 open holes left beneath tufts of upstanding heather. On 

 the same day we observed a belated black-backed gull 

 soaring over the snow-clad moor. 



Nothing need be added as regards the remaining 

 winter months. Throughout January and February, 

 bird-life on the moorland remains as described above, 

 subject only to local movements dictated by climatic 

 vicissitudes. There is no notable event until the end of 

 February, when the reappearance of the golden plovers 

 from Southern Europe brings us back to the point at 

 which these chapters commenced. 



