164 HILL BIRDS OF SCOTLAND 



Blackcock, flying down to a fighting ground near, added 

 tlieir low crooning notes. 



At sunrise I again visited the bog. On the higher 

 ground the air was clear, but the course of the river was 

 marked by a dense mist-cloud, and as I entered this the 

 air was damp, and objects even a few yards away were 

 blotted out. The grass was thickly rimed with hoar 

 frost which gathered under the feet and rendered walking 

 difficult. From a great distance the low notes of the 

 Blackcock were borne to the ear in the intense stillness 

 of the early morning, and, save for an occasional cry of 

 protest from a Redshank or Green Plover, as I suddenly 

 disturbed them in the mist, the air held no sound. With- 

 out warning the mist lifted, and the pale sun shed his 

 beams over the rough moorlands. Immediately above 

 the river the cold cloud still rested, marking its course 

 afar as it twisted down the strath. There were no Snipe 

 drumming over their nesting site this morning : the frost 

 had chilled their blood, and a silence brooded over all 

 bird life, save the Blackcock settling their early morning 

 disputes before their attendant ladies. 



The tail feathers of the Snipe are of so peculiar formation 

 that it may be well to give here a description of them : — In 

 the first outer tail feather the shaft is exceptionally stiff, 

 and shaped like a sabre. The rays of the web are strongly 

 bound together and are very long — the longest, in fact, 

 reaching nearly three-quarters of the whole length of the 

 web. The rays lie along the shaft of the feather like the 

 strings of a musical instrument. Other species of Snipe 

 possess four drumming feathers, and one species has no 

 fewer than eight. The drumming feathers of the hen 

 Snipe are not as strong as those of the male. 



The bleating of the bird has given it specially chosen 

 names in other languages besides that of the Scottish 

 Highlands. In France the Snipe has been called Chtvre 



