254 HILL BIRDS OF SCOTLAND 



of July the young have left the nest. They laek the 

 colouring of their parents, for they are of a uniform brown 

 colour, and harmonise closely with the boulders where 

 they are found. Often the eggs, either from cold or from 

 some other cause, become useless, and in such cases 

 second broods are sometimes, but rarely I think, reared. 

 Eggs have been found in the Shetlands as late as July 2. 

 From the time the hen commences to brood till the young 

 are able to leave the nest a period of just over four weeks 

 elapses. 



As there is usually an absence of water as well as of 

 vegetation where the Snow Bunting nests, the young 

 broods, when sufficiently strong on the wing, are led down 

 the hill by their parents till they reach some spring or 

 burn, and remain more or less in its vicinity afterwards. 

 When a cold and strong wind sweeps over the hill, young 

 and old crawl into the cracks and chinks between the 

 boulders, and remain almost dormant, without food, till 

 summer again comes to the hills. It is consequently of 

 little use to search even a favourite haunt for the Snow 

 Bunting unless the conditions are favourable, for in all 

 probability there will be no sign of their presence. I 

 have seen a young bird, sheltering in this manner, experi- 

 ence considerable difficulty in gaining the open as I 

 passed. 



Though I imagine that, owing to the sheltered char- 

 acter of their nesting situations, the snowstorms which 

 so often sweep the high hills during June should not 

 cause the hen to desert her eggs, I have frequently seen 

 pairs of birds during July which had no broods with them, 

 and which were not, so far as I could determine, engaged 

 in nesting. And yet their enemies are few. The hill-fox 

 I have seen at their wild country. He was basking in 

 the clear sunlight of an early June morning, after, maybe, 

 a successful stalk during the hours of darkness, when he 



