BIRD-LIFE ON THE MOOES IN DECEMBER. 135 



them fall a comparatively easy prey to the puut-gunner, 

 being rather less suspicious of the long, low, white craft than 

 are their congeners of the salt water. The Golden- eyes, on 

 the contrary, being good divers and feeding at the bottom, 

 appear but little affected by any weather, and continue on 

 the inland streams long after the native Mallards have taken 

 their departure. Only once — viz., in the terribly severe 

 winter of January, 1881 — have I seen these ducks compelled 

 to retire to the salt water for a living. Teal dislike extreme 

 cold ; during hard winters I have never met with them on 

 the moors at this season, and very rarely on the coast. The 

 Heron and Jack Snipe agree in but few respects, especially 

 in size, but both are characteristic of severe weather — the 

 Heron on the larger burns, the Jack on the tiniest little 

 open rills, where, as they take very short flights, three or 

 four of them will pei'haps afford sport to an indifferent shot 

 for half a day. 



Of the resident small birds, if the winter be mild and 

 open, a fair number of species continue to enliven the 

 scrubby birch and alder woods along the fell-edges and in the 

 valleys. Among these may be mentioned large flocks of 

 Chaffinches, Greenfinches, and numerous small parties of 

 Tits, while here and there a Goldcrest or a Tree-creeper may 

 occasionally be observed. But it is only during mild weather 

 that we have their company ; when winter sets in in earnest 

 they soon disappear. Hardly one of them remains after 

 two or three days of snow. The Wren remains steadfast ; 

 he simply moves off the hills into the woods, but the rest 

 are all gone. As regards hardihood, in the first rank of all 

 small birds stand the Wren, the Robin, the Bullfinch, and 

 the Blackbird. (Thrushes entirely disappear from the 

 fells in winter.) The four species above named appear 

 immovable, not retiring before even the most extreme 

 severities of weather. The Blackbird, however, appears to be 

 the most affected, and after a week or ten days' hard weather 

 many are in a moribund condition. The cock Bullfinch, 

 with his crimson breast and sharply-contrasted plumage, is 

 a conspicuously handsome object in the wintry landscape. 

 A pair or two are often noticeable perched on tall hemlocks 



